Ghost Town
by MusicIsMyMorphine
Summary: On a trip to a mining town, Danny thinks that he's going to get a break, but can Danny, Sam and Emma figure it out before their pasts come back to haunt them premanantly? DannyxOC Better than you think, surprisingly
1. The Wild West Meets Amity's Best!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Danny Phantom, Butch Hartman does. He also owns an own named Spooky O-o

_(Jazz has just told Jack & Danny that Maddie is going to be in Genius Magazine)_  
**Jack:** _Genius_ Magazine! Is it the swimsuit issue?  
**Jazz:** _(Sighs)_ Dad, _Genius_ Magazine is _for_ women geniuses, _by_ women geniuses, and about _women geniuses_.  
**Danny:** So, it _is_ the swimsuit issue… Oh, _gross! Mom's going to be in the swimsuit issue_?

**Jazz-** _**IT'S NOT THE SWIMSUIT ISSUE!**_

* * *

**Wild West Meets Amity's Best!**

"If she makes one more comment about the sun drying out her hair, I'm gonna fix the problem by shaving her bald." Danny Fenton chuckled nervously at the homicidal look on his best friend's face, fixed pointedly on the pretty Latina girl a few seats ahead of them.

"Easy, Sam." the blue eyed boy coaxed. "This trip is supposed to be fun, remember? A break from all the ghost hunting and fighting. Isn't that what we agreed?"

Emma grinned beside them, "But shaving her head _would_ be fun, right Sam?"

"Yeah!" Sam high-fived the brown haired girl sitting on the other side of Danny. Then she smiled wryly. "Though I still think it's ironic that we're going to a ghost town to get away from ghosts."

"Mom already checked the place out weeks ago." Danny rolled his eyes. "It's clean, Sam; Not a ghost in sight. Or even out of sight, for that matter."

"That doesn't mean anything." Sam smirked. "I mean, ghosts can awaken at any time, right? And let's face it, Danny, you're a paranormal magnet." Danny blushed slightly, unable to deny the truth in her statement. "She has a point there Danny. Besides," Emma tucked her arms behind her head, "I've always wanted to go to one of these places!"

"But who's fault is it that I'm a paranormal magnet again?" he said accusingly with a pointed look.

"I'm never gonna be able to apologize enough for that to satisfy you, am I?" Sam sulked, raising her eyebrow.

"What do you think?" Danny grinned back.

Almost a year earlier, Sam had convinced Danny to explore a new experiment his parents were working on, unwittingly causing the accident that changed Danny's life forever by endowing him with supernatural ghost powers and the alias of Danny Phantom, Amity Park's most controversial superhero.

Danny had taken up the job of fighting of evil ghosts and the occasional obsessive ghost hunter and human crooks with his newfound abilities, at first in secret but then thrusted into the public eye by one of his enemies.

Then came Emma, a fellow ghost with flame-based powers and a steady heart. She helps fight the ghosts and bad guys alongside Danny, and after living most of her life trapped inside her home by her parents, she found freedom in death, and found love in Danny. The two have been going steady for a while, and Emma got her own name as Emma DeFinity, the cloaked partner of Danny Phantom. She hides among the human population as well as Danny does, if better.

Most of the adult population of Amity was still getting used to the idea of Danny and Emma as heroes, but the children and pretty much every teenager had accepted him readily into the role, idolizing everything about his ghost half while criticizing his human one.

Only six people knew that Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom were one in the same. The first were Danny's two best friends Sam and Tucker, who were both present when Danny's accident took place.

After that was Danny's sister Jazz, who found out on her own and covered for her brother from the shadows until a trip into the future brought out a darker side of Danny that forced her forward to help her brother, and also Emma. Then there was Vlad Masters, Danny's archrival and fellow half ghost and Dani Phantom, Danny's twelve year old female clone.

As he thought about this, Danny ran a hand through his raven locks, which were in dire need of a haircut he didn't have time for. Then again, between school, family, friends and random ghost attacks, the half ghost considered himself lucky if he got time to sleep…

_Well, at least this trip can be a sort of vacation for me, I guess._ Danny thought to himself. _No ghosts for a whole week!_

"Anyways, do you think Tucker's doing okay?" he asked Sam, resting his chin on the back of the seat that separated them.

"With _Valerie_ as his partner?" Sam raised an eyebrow at him. "They'll be sending him back home in an ashtray, Danny."

Emma snorted in amusement, "You got that right."

"Valerie's not that bad." Danny defended his other friend.

Well, friend when he was in his human form, at any rate. Valerie was one of Phantom's most dangerous adversaries, with an arsenal of weapons designed with the sole intent of capturing or destroying ghosts, and the superb physical capabilities only a ninth degree black belt could possess.

"Not to Fenton, maybe." Sam rolled her eyes, knowing all too well what Danny was thinking about. "She was already laying down the 'ground rules' with Tucker when we left. Rules there's no chance he'll ever be able to follow by the way…"

"Obviously…" Emma added.

Danny laughed slightly at that, not even bothering to deny that Tucker was less… _ethical_ then most girls were comfortable with. That combined with Valerie's quick temper, impressive combat skills and weapons meant that the fate Sam predicted for the Tech geek was a very likely possibility.

"Still," Danny shook his head, amusement still written on his face. "It was pretty brave of him to volunteer to go to Vlad's castle like that. I mean, he didn't have to."

"But someone did, Danny." Sam pointed out. "You said yourself that it was weird how Vlad suddenly funded a trip like that, and there was no way we were gonna let you within five miles of that psychopath if we could help it."

"Besides, this trip seems more fun. Señor Cheesehead is probably making them all watch the old footage of the Packers games." Emma commented. Danny and Sam laughed at that.

"Hence the reason Tucker and Jazz went on the field trip to Vlad's and you two came along to baby-sit me on the alternate field trip to some barren little western town in the middle of nowhere." Danny finished for her with a pointed look. Sam smiled back guiltily.

"Well, we never used those words exactly." She said, a little meekly. "But that was the general idea."

"You thought I wouldn't notice?" Danny asked, bemused.

"You never notice other things…" Sam muttered dryly.

"What?" Danny asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing!" Sam smiled brightly before turning away, a clear sign that the conversation was over.

"Oh come on guys!" Emma said cheerfully putting her arms around her boyfriend and her close friend, "This is going to be a fun experience for us! I always wanted to be in the Wild West, and now we are, so let's just have some fun!"

Danny chuckled, "Okay, okay, Emma, we get it. We'll make the best of this."

Sam smiled at her friend's goofy behavior. _Hey, maybe this __**will**__ be an okay trip. Maybe._

"Okay, kids," Mr. Lancer said as the bus rolled to a stop. "We've reached the mining town now. Please take your things and exit from the bus single file, so we can meet up with the owner and tour guide."

"This better not get my new shoes dirty…" Star griped as she and everyone else exited the bus to the dry earth outside. "Oh, Shut up." Emma sighed annoyed at Star. Sam cringed a little at the heat, shielding her eyes from the glaring sun and joined Emma to stand behind Dash and Kwan to further block the blazing inferno.

"I knew I should've brought my veil…" she grumbled darkly to Danny, who laughed a little at the face she was making.

"Would tanning really be such an awful fate, Sam?" he teased, also blocking the sun with his hand. Squinting off in the distance, he read the ancient sign in front of them. "_Harmony_, huh?"

"Talk about cheesy…" Sam said dryly, rolling her eyes.

"Talk about _My Bloody Valentine._" Emma snickered.

"Could be worse." Danny reminded her, sounding bemused. The girls grinned back.

"Ah, yes." Sam giggled. "How could I forget… _Inviso-Bill_."

Danny glared at her sourly, not improving her sudden giggle fit.

"Attention, please!" Mr. Lancer shouted into a megaphone to silence the teens. "We need you to form two single file lines, one for the boys and one for the girls." Alarmed, the three teens exchanged curious glances at that.

"Why?" Danny asked loudly, frowning at the teacher.

"Well, we can't have you all changing in the same place now, can we?" an older man decked out like a sheriff asked as he came up to stand beside Mr. Lancer looking amused at the reaction. Next to him was a red-headed girl around their age, dressed in a baby blue gown with white undercoats. What drew Danny's attention, though, was the way Sam gasped loudly when she saw them.

"Changing?" Paulina repeated, "Changing into what?"

"Harmony is a full time cosplay joint." the girl replied, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes impatiently as she announced this in a droll tone. "Meaning clothes, cell phones and electronics get checked here and picked up when you leave. Everything here is exactly like it was in the late eighteen hundreds, so no modern tech whatsoever."

"YES!!!" Emma yelled, putting her arms up in the air triumphantly, making her friends flinch.

"It helps with the learning experience if you undergo first hand what life was like for the people who lived on these lands." the 'sheriff' continued with a warm smile, apparently oblivious to the moaning this new information earned from the kids.

"No cell phones?" Star repeated, looking as if someone had just died right in front of her.

"No video games?" Dash asked, scowling angrily.

"No Abyss Rhodamine Sleeveless Half-Tops?" Paulina wailed, clutching at her face in sheer agony.

"This is going to be SO COOL!!" Emma was grinning at Danny, holding his arm and jumping up and down slightly, excitedly.

"Jeeze…" Danny said, blinking a few times at the other students' reactions. "Emma calm down, talk about being over dramatic, right Sam?" Emma took a couple deep breaths and then was clam, but she still held his arm, grinning.

"I don't believe it!" Sam gasped, apparently not even hearing Danny as she pushed her way to the front of the crowd.

"…On second thought, never mind."

"Jane?" Sam said, staring at the girl with wide eyed before turning to the man next to her. "Uncle Henry?" The two looked confused for a second before recognition lit in the girl's eyes.

"Sam?" Jane said, sounding faintly surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing…" Sam said wryly as she shook her head. "You guys never said that this was the town you worked in!"

"You never asked now, didja, Sam?" Henry reminded the girl with a warm laugh as he gave her a one-arm hug.

"Wait," Danny said as he joined his best friend, "You guys know each other?" Realizing what Sam had just said, the ghost boy's eyes widened on the man in the sheriff garb. "UNCLE Henry? You mean—!"

"We're related?" Sam flashed her friend a grin. "Yep. They're not really my cousin and uncle, though, but the whole thing's too complicated, so we just simplify it a little…"

"That's so cool Sam! I wish I had family that works here!" Emma smiled at Sam, who blushed.

"Who's this?" Jane asked Sam as her eyes flicked over Danny, a slight smile touching her face.

"My friends Danny and Emma." Sam answered. "I've known Danny since first grade. Emma's new to our little circle."

"Nice to meet you." Danny said, holding out his hand to shake with Jane. "I'm—!"

"—Not important!" Dash finished for him, shoving the smaller boy out of the way to loom over Jane with a flirty smile. "So, I bet a girl like you really likes the city guys, huh?" Emma frowned as she let go of Danny so as not to drag him down with her.

"Dash!" Sam snapped, scowling at the football player.

"Actually," Jane said as if Sam hadn't spoken. "I do like the city guys…" Sam gaped openly at Jane as she stepped forward, putting her gloved hand against Dash's cheek, not noticing the way her gothic cousin's face darkening into an ugly scowl of disgust.

"Oh, I don't _believe_-!" Sam started, but then stopped short as Jane suddenly slapped Dash as hard as she could.

"…But I can't say I'm that fond of the city _**jerks**_." Jane finished before heading over to Danny, who looked faintly surprised at Jane's actions. Henry on the other hand, merely sighed and looked heavenward in exasperation. "You were saying?" Blinking, Danny laughed warmly and ran a hand through his hair before giving Jane a smile. Jane held out her hand and helped Emma up as Danny talked.

"Is that how you handle all the quarterbacks you talk to?" He asked.

"Only the ones I really don't like." Jane responded with a secretive smile. "Same!" Emma smiled, raising her hand and Jane grinned at her, and she grinned back.

"Jane…" Henry warned, giving his daughter a pointed look, which she beamed broadly at.

"Oh yeah." Danny laughed as he watched the interaction. "You're related to Sam, alright." As Sam looked between her laughing cousin and best friend, she couldn't stop the strange gnawing in the pit of her stomach, and found herself stepping forward and clearing her throat.

"So!" She said loudly, grinning widely. "We've gotta change, right?"

"That's right." Henry confirmed, glancing at Sam curiously. "Boys follow me, girls go with Jane. We already have outfits for you guys to pick from in almost every size, so just write down your measurements and give us the papers and we'll give you your outfits. If you don't know them, we've got measuring tape in the changing rooms. Any questions?"

"When do we eat?" Kwan asked.

"We do eat here, right?" Star asked doubtfully, glancing at the desert around them.

"Of course." Henry laughed, "Dinner's in the Saloon at seven. You'll be touring until then. Any more questions? No? In that case, if you'll just follow me…"

Sam and Emma watched Danny until he entered the small building the boys were changing in, waving back at Emma, before they followed her cousin to where the girls were supposed to be going. As Sam passed the sign to enter the town, Sam felt a sharp cold, chill run through her body, like a bad premonition. Shaking it off, she picked up her pace a little more.

_What am I thinking? _She wondered. _It's just nerves… I'm sure everything gonna be okay… I mean, what could happen in a town that's miles away from any ghosts…?_

* * *

"Whoa…"

That was the only response Danny could think of as he gaped at himself in the antique full-lengthed mirror in front of him, his boots clunking heavily as he turned this way and that to examine himself.

Ironically enough, the outfit was all black and white. A white shirt buttoned underneath a black vest, coupled with a pair of faded black jeans. A black cowboy hat was hanging over his back by a white cord with black beads since Danny didn't like the feel of it on his head, and black boots without spurs completed the boy's western transformation. Surprisingly, everything fit perfectly, as if it was made for Danny specifically. Even the boots were just the right size for him.

Remembering how Henry had mentioned that these clothes had been worn in the old days by men who lived and worked on building this land, Danny went over to the tag that had been attached to the bag the outfit had been in, which had the measurements and initials of the original owner.

Scanning the tag, Danny found his suspicions confirmed; the measurements of the outfit were exactly the same as his. What really shook him up, though, were the three letters in the initials box.

_DJF_

_Creepy…_ Danny thought, making a face as he released the tag, considering that his full name was Daniel Jonathan Fenton. _Maybe Sam playing some kind of trick on me, trying to spook me out… her family works here, after all. _Danny knew that his two best friends (And Jazz) were the only people in school who knew his full name.

He doubted that, though. Sam wasn't like Tucker, she wouldn't go out of her way to pull elaborate pranks like this…

_Besides, she didn't even know her family worked here until just now._ It was just a coincidence was all, it had to be.

Sighing, Danny left the room, clumsily at first being unused to the weight of his new footwear, but he quickly adapted to the point where someone had to strain to hear his footfall. Shaking off a strange feeling of déjà vu, Danny joined Mr. Lancer and Henry, who both glanced up as Danny entered, their eyes widening in shock.

"Well, kid," Henry laughed, shaking his head. "gotta say, I'm impressed. Most kids your age don't get how to wear this kind of outfit on their first time in them."

"What's so hard about it?" Danny asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Never mind." Henry chuckled. "You're the first one done, though,"

"Goody…" Danny said dryly, crossing his arms. Henry frowned at him for a moment, studying the boy. For some reason, he couldn't shake the feeling that he'd seen him somewhere before…

_He must've been there last time I went to visit Pamela._ Henry decided, turning away to finish putting away the possessions the teens had brought with them.

"Now Danny." he heard Mr. Lancer lecture the boy with a rather severe frown. "I trust there won't be any more of your famous 'accidents' during this trip? Most of these artifacts date back as far as the late 1800s, and almost all of them are irreplaceable historical artifacts."

"Accidents?" Henry repeated when he turned back to the two, raising an eyebrow skeptically at the now blushing boy.

"That's right." Mr. Lancer said dryly, giving Danny a pointed glare. "Danny here is quite accident-prone. He's committed every crime in the book from defacing school property to false fire alarms." Danny blushed vividly at the subtle accusation, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot as he studied the toes of his cowboy boots. Feeling a little sorry for the boy, Henry cleared his throat loudly.

"Well, everything here is fully insured." he said to the teacher. "We've had plenty of kids break stuff before, so we're used to making repairs."

"Be that as it may, Mr. Viper," Mr. Lancer sighed. "It's a fate I'd much rather avoid." Shaking his head, Henry chucked before his eyes widened slightly.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" He said, turning back to Danny and grabbing a spare hat that was sitting upside down on the counter. Holding it out to the boy, he grinned as her answered his questioning look. "It gives you a job to do while you're in Harmony. There's at least two people for each job, and your job determines who your roommate is. It's completely luck of the draw, so no complaints and no trading. Get it?"

"Got it." Danny sighed, reaching into the hat. Taking a slip, he withdrew it and opened it, blinking at his 'job.' "Gunslinger?"

"Really?" Henry said, raising an eyebrow as he took the slip himself to read it. "Well, that's interesting. There's only two gunslingers in town at a time, and I've never had the first kid out draw one…"

"You're not really going to give my students weapons, are you?" Mr. Lancer asked with a disapproving frown. "Mr. Viper-!"

"Relax, Lancer." Henry laughed warmly. "They're fake guns with fake bullets that have blood pellets in the tips. Other then that though, they're complete replicas of the guns used in the 1800s, meaning that they're more inaccurate then guns today, so the chances of the kids actually hitting each other with 'em are pretty slim."

Opening a box under the counter, Henry dug around a bit to look for something in Danny's size before he withdrew a black leather holster with a silver oval shaped buckle, handing it to the teen.

Studying the design on the buckle, Danny's eyes widened slightly when he saw the initials DF carved into the center, flipping the tag to read the initials DJF yet again. The boy made a face.

_Figures._ He thought dryly as he studied the buckle again. His eyes narrowed slightly when he noticed that the 'F' on the belt was stylized the exact same way his father, grandfather and great-grandfather on his dad's side of the family had designed the Fenton logo. _Okay, now it's just getting creepy…_

"_**AHHH!"**_ Danny jumped slightly and turned at the loud scream that drew him from his thoughts.

"Who was that?" Mr. Lancer asked, alarmed.

"Mikey." Danny answered automatically.

_It's a little sad that I've had to save my classmates so many times, I can tell who's who by their screams alone…_ Danny mused to himself.

"_**SNAAAAAAKE!"**_ Mikey wailed loudly, followed by loud crashing noises. Sighing loudly, Henry started towards the room the boy was dressing in.

"I'd better take care of this…" he said wryly. Danny shook his head incredulously as he watched the man go, one thought running through his mind…

* * *

"You've gotta be kidding me!"

Jane giggled slightly at the horrified look on her cousin's face as she looked at herself in the mirror, dressed in full petticoats and frills.

"Come on, Sam." she teased. "You don't look half bad in a good, old-fashion Victorian gown." Sam glowered at the girl sullenly.

"Oh shut up." she growled, turning back to her reflection with a sigh.

_Well, at least it's black… _she thought grimly, pulling at the high collar of the dress that her parents would kill to get her into (In a brighter color, at any rate) for more then an hour.

"So Sam." Jane said casually. "That friend of yours, Danny? Does he have a girlfriend?"

Sam hands stopped for a second and she glanced at her cousin's reflection in the mirror.

"Yes." she answered honestly. "Why?"

"No reason." Jane said quickly. "It's just… well, he's kinda cute and all…" Sam frowned a little, unsure of how to respond to that. She liked Jane, she really did. But Danny…

"Hey!" Emma yelled from somewhere, and Jane froze, before hearing a loud thud and Emma groan, "Owww…"

* * *

Emma rubbed her head after she hit it on the dressing room wall after the dress got caught over her head. Somewhere Paulina and Star snickered in the safety of their stalls. Emma groaned and looked at the tag, hoping for directions on how to put the dress on. _Yeah, what was I thinking it would say, Wash Rinse, Repeat? That's so… whoa…_ Emma's eyes widened at the initials on the tag. _EJT._

_Okay… Creepy…_ Emma thought, then stored what she had seen in her mind. She checked all of the clothes tags, _EJT, EJT, EJT. _Emma shook her head, and looked down as she heard something fall when she put the dress on. It was a choker that matched the dress. She picked it up and looked at the faded gold embroidered name on the inside. _For N._

Emma smiled wryly, "Well at least it isn't EJT again." And put it on.

She walked out of the stall, holding her clothes. She put them down on the bench next to a mirror and looked over. She pulled out the green jewel from her jeans pocket and tucked it neatly in a little hidden pocket she found and proceeded to fix her hair. She pulled some of it back and looked down to see a ribbon hanging off the dress, tucked neatly in a little area where it wouldn't fall out. Emma pulled it off and used it to tie the bit of hair back. She looked in the mirror. "Whoever EJT was, she was smart to hide that ribbon there." _The clothes fit perfectly too._ She noted. She picked up her clothes and proceeded out.

* * *

"Actually." Sam found herself saying calmly. "Danny and Emma have been going steady for a long time." The Goth cringed as soon as the words left her mouth.

"It's true." Emma said as she walked out of the dressing room. Her dress passed her ankles and barely trailed on the floor. It was red, similar to the color of her ghost-fighting outfit, and came with a choker that Emma was wearing. She had tied her hair back with a ribbon and walked with a grace she hadn't had before. She looked at them and smiled.

"Really?" Jane asked, looking faintly surprised and disappointed at the same time. "Oh, well…That's good, I guess. You two look cute together."

"They do." Sam said, feeling guilty for making her cousin feel sad. Even though She told the truth about Danny… Danny had his eyes on other girls.

Emma smiled, "Thank you." And she walked over to Jane and put her hand on her shoulder. "If I wasn't his girlfriend, I would have been really happy if you dated him. I mean, you're really pretty and everything."

Jane looked surprised, "Oh, thank you."

_Isn't that life?_ Sam thought wryly. Brushing the thought away, the girl turned back to Jane as the redhead handed her a slip of paper. Taking it, Sam raised an eyebrow at the writing on it.

"Banker's daughter?" she read off, giving her cousin a skeptical look. Jane grinned back.

"It's pretty much the cushy position." the girl explained. "You don't really have to do anything but sit around when there's a ribbon cutting ceremony and look good. As far as the dress goes, you can say you're mourning your brother's death or something." Her grin taking on a more devious edge, the girl added, "Just don't tell my dad I gave that to you, okay? We're supposed to let you pick your jobs randomly." Sam grinned back at her knowingly.

"You have my vow of silence, cuz!" she laughed, "Mine too." Emma agreed. They did a three-way high-five with Jane as Paulina exited her room wearing a frilly pink and white gown, Star at her heels in a very similar dress, only in green.

"Like this dress is so the wrong shade for me!" Paulina complained loudly, smoothing out the skirt of her dress. Sam snorted disdainfully and Jane short her a wry grin, Emma laughed, "Don't worry Paulina; you can go to Abercrombie and Bitch as soon as we get home." Paulina huffed angrily, but said nothing more.

"Well," The redhead sighed dramatically. "Duty calls!" Sam chuckled and waved her cousin off as the girl approached her classmates with a brown ten gallon hat filled with slips of paper like the one she'd given Sam. Shaking her head, Sam turned to look out the window as Jane explained things to the two girls, looking back only at Paulina's shrill scream of pure rage.

"_**What do you mean I'm the Goth Freak's servant?"**_

* * *

After most of the girls picked their professions, Sam stood next to Emma as she reached into the hat and pulled out her slip of paper. Looking at Sam warily, she read it aloud. "Singer/Gunslinger."

Jane's eyes widened. "That's not one of them. I don't think that one was put in there!" She ran over and looked at the handwriting. "That's Dad's handwriting all right." Jane turned and opened the door to a little cabinet. Emma and Sam glanced at each other, eyes wide. "Oh well, here you go Emma, that means you get these too."

Jane handed her a pair of jeans, red cowboy boots, a red shirt and a red cowboy hat with a black string and red beads. On top was a belt with two red leather gun holsters, like the boots. In them were guns like the ones Danny had been previously given, but they didn't know that. The belt buckle had a large N on it. Emma looked under the shirt and found a red cloak, not unlike the one she wore when she was fighting ghosts too, except instead of her green jewel holding it in place; it was held shut by gold ribbon. Then Jane handed her a bag, antique of course, but sturdy, for her to put the extra clothes in.

As the girls filed out, Emma waved for Jane to go on with them. As they filed out, Emma took up the rear, preferring to go last.

* * *

"Sam?" Danny watched his best friend approach warily, unsure if he liked the evil grin the Goth had on her face. "Please don't tell me they were dumb enough to stick you as the town executioner or some equally gory job…" Sam rolled her eyes at that, hitting Danny playfully across the shoulder.

"Haha." She grouched dryly, her grin growing slightly. "And no, that's not what I'm happy about… though now that you mention it that would be a really cool job…"

"Oh?" Before Danny could say any more then that, though, a very irritated Paulina stormed over, glowering at Sam hatefully.

"Let's get one thing straight, loser!" She spat out at the Goth, "If you even think about taking advantage of this whole servant thing, I'll make the rest of your pitiful high school existence the worst four years of your life!"

"Too late." Sam said dryly. Paulina merely scoffed and walked away, flipping her hair as she went. Danny stared at her retreating form for a minute in shock before he turned back to Sam.

"Do I even want to know?" he asked, only half serious with the question.

"I'll tell you later." The Goth responded flippantly.

As Danny stood on the porch of the boy's dressing room-building, he watched the other girls file out of the building across the way. All the girls came out, when he saw Emma step tentatively out of the shadowed doorway, head tilted down slightly, both respectfully and trying to make sure she didn't trip. She stood straight, hands folded behind her back, and she walked with a grace he'd never seen on her before. Emma looked up slightly to look at him, blushed lightly, _Beautifully_, he thought, and looked back down.

Danny didn't know his mouth was hanging open until Sam pushed it back closed. He stared at Emma in shock. Emma walked towards him slowly, and he blinked, and then blushed. "You look amazing." He told her, breathlessly. That's when he realized he hadn't been breathing.

"Thank you." Emma told him, her blush fading.

"Come on, we've gotta get into the inn to start the tour of the town. Danny laughed as Sam dragged him into the old building, Him holding onto Emma's hand in turn, pulling her along after him, the girls with their skirts lifted so they could walk a little easier.

"Wow, Sam," the ghost boy teased lightly. "you're really getting into this stuff!" Sam laughed and shot her friend a playful grin.

"Yeah, well— OOF!" grunting in pain, Sam twisted around to glare back at the scowling boy she'd bumped in to.

"Watch it!" Dash barked at her, his blue eyes flashing angrily.

"Lay off, Dash." Danny frowned at the larger boy, tensing in preparation to defend his friend. "It was an accident." Dash turned to sneer right back at Danny, clearly not ready to forgive him for the embarrassment Jane had caused him just yet.

"Yeah, yeah…" the quarterback snapped. "And watch your back, Fenton! You get in my way again, and I'll show you what a real gunslinger is made of!" Danny blinked as the blonde stormed out of sight, turning to Sam with a bewildered look on his face. Emma snorted at Dash's presumption that he was automatically a good shot, just because a piece of paper told him so.

"How would he know?" The half ghost asked Sam, sounding confused and a little wary. Sam just rolled her eyes in amusement.

"Ah, forget him." She said, turning back to Danny. "Let's just… just…" Danny frowned in concern as his friend paled to a shade that was whiter then half the ghost's he'd met.

He looked at Emma, who practically was transparent, she was so pale, and she had a look on her face that was a mixture of shock and nothingness. He turned back to his other friend.

"Sam?" He said, putting his hand on the girl's shoulder to steady her since she looked ready to faint (Something she'd deny vigorously later.)

"What's with her?" Paulina sneered, drawing everyone's attention to the pair. Concerned, Danny looked over to see what had captured his friends' attention.

And went deathly still when he realized what it was.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he heard someone gasp as the rest of the class realized what the two of them were staring at, but he was too shell-shocked to fully acknowledge it, his eyes fixed on the framed black and white picture on the wall.

"Ohmigosh…!" Star whispered, looking from the photo to Danny and back again. "That's… Fenton, that's…" Since the popular girl was speechless for once in her life, it was up to Sam to finish her statement for her.

"Danny…" Sam croaked out in a stunned tone. "that's _you_." Danny didn't respond except to blinked in shock a few time before tearing his eyes off a face that was the mirror image of his own to glance at the nameplate below the picture, his face going even paler when he saw it.

_Daniel 'Fast-Shootin'' Fenton_


	2. Fast Shootin

**Disclaimer:** I don't not own Danny Phantom, you would know if I did, 

**Walker:** I am your judge, executioner, jury, executioner, jailer, and if necessary your executioner.  
**Danny:** You said executioner three times.  
**Walker:** I like that part of the job.

* * *

**Fast-Shootin' Fenton!**

"Please tell me this is someone's idea of a joke." Even as he looked around at his wide-eyed classmates, Danny knew the hope was futile. Unnerved, he turned back to the wall, studying the picture again.

Taking a closer look, he noticed that the boy in the photograph looked a little older then he was, maybe sixteen or seventeen. Other then that though, the resemblance was uncanny right down to the wide, easy grin on Daniel's face.

"I don't…" Sam said, looking between the picture and her best friend. "It's doesn't… How could… _Why_?"

_Why indeed._ Danny said wryly in his head, running a hand through his hair. Suddenly his nice, relaxing break for his chaotic life was going straight down the tubes…

Emma shook her head. "This is just _too weird_."

"There you guys are!" trotting over, Jane stopped in front of the group, her eyebrow rising when she realized that everyone's attention was elsewhere. Turning, she gasped when she saw what the teens were staring at.

"Oh, wow…" She said, blinking as she looked between the picture and Danny. "I thought I knew you from somewhere… Guess I just didn't make the connection before because you were dressed differently…"

"Fast-Shootin' Fenton?" Sam read, shooting Jane a curious look.

"He was a gunslinger raised here in Harmony." Jane explained. "And he was good, too. Almost scary, what he could do with a gun… There's one story about this contest he and Buck— they were friends back then— got into when they were thirteen to see who the better shot was. Daniel won when he managed to hit a thimble in mid air from eighty paces away."

"Nice job Daniel." Emma said looking at the photo.

"Huh?" Danny said.

"I'm talking to the picture." Emma said, rolling her eyes.

"If he was so good, why'd he stay in this dump." Dash sneered, shooting Danny a pointed look.

"He didn't." Jane said. "Daniel disappeared right after the death of his first love, and his fiancée."

"Come on, Jane." Henry chuckled as he joined the conversation, making a few kids jump. "You're getting ahead of yourself. That's no way to tell the tale of Fast Shootin' Fenton." Beside him, Mr. Lancer looked alarmed at that statement.

"I beg your pardon?" He said, looking over at Danny accusingly.

"I didn't do anything!" Danny defended himself immediately, a little irritated. Henry frowned between the two, apparently not making the connection right away. After a moment or two, though, he finally noticed the resemblance between the man in the black and white photo and the teen in front of him.

"Well I'll be…" He said with a low whistle. "I thought you looked familiar…"

"You never told me you had a famous relative, Danny." Sam said, her tone borderline accusing.

"Guy's, I don't think he's the only one…" Emma said, voice quavering, pointing to the picture next to that one on the wall that no one noticed. It looked exactly like her. The girl wore the same exact dress she did, down to the choker and the ribbon in her hair. She stood proper, hands folded in front of her, with a smile on her face, but her brown eyes (Emma could tell even thought the photo was black and white) sparkled and glowed with mischief, not unlike Emma when she was happy.

"I didn't know!" Danny defended himself. "Dad never said a word about it…"

_Which is weird, because normally it's hard to get him to shut up about stuff like this._ Danny finished in his head. Frowning, he studied the man in the picture again, trying to shake off how unnerving it felt to look at a man who was so similar to him in appearance.

"You're right, Miss. And you can't tell the story of Fast-Shootin' Fenton without tellin' the story of Poor Nightingale." Emma went and stood next to the picture of the girl, and Danny stood next to her, in-between the pictures. She read the name plate, standing off to the side. "_Emma 'Nightingale' Turner_." She read aloud, softly, but enough for other's to hear.

"Well, Fast-shootin' Fenton was a very mysterious character." Henry said, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "Very little is known about him… when he was born, who his parents were… Heck, for a long time no one even knew it was him fightin' off the bandits and train robbers coming through Harmony. People just called him the Phantom Slinger…"

Henry paused here when Sam was suddenly overcome with a violent coughing fit, glancing at her in wary concern until she'd recovered. Danny, in the meantime, was white as a sheet, looking more then a little shaken. Emma smiled slightly.

_It's just a coincidence…_ He reassured himself hastily, swallowing against a lump in his throat. _I mean, Phantom's a really common nickname, it's not like I have it trademarked or anything…_ Though Tucker was definitely working on that.

"Anyways." Henry continued after Sam had reassured everyone she was fine. "Fenton wasn't what you'd call popular growing up, and only had two known friends. One was Buck Jones, who would grow up to be Black-eye Buck, and the other was the daughter of the Saloon manager, and an ancestor of my and Jane's— and Sammy here, for that matter— Gwendolyn Viper. Those two were the only ones he confided with his secret double life."

Here, Henry pointed to a second picture hanging on the wall, of Daniel Fenton and two other people, all in their early teens. One was a larger boy, built very burly with a sun worn face and a wide grin. He was dressed simply, obviously a farmer or something of the sorts, and had a fishing pole in his hands. The other was a girl, her long black hair pulled back in a low ponytail, save for the strands framing her face. Freckles spotted her tanned face, and she smiled into the camera with a confidence that belied her simple, dusty dress.

More frightening, though, was the fact that only a few details kept the girl from looking nearly identical to Sam, who drew in a sharp breath when she saw this. "Danny…" the Goth hissed, casting the boy a worried look. "It's just a coincidence!" Danny insisted under his breath curtly, giving her a look that dared her to challenge that statement. Sam rolled her eyes, but let the subject drop.

"Of course that was before Miss Nightingale came into the picture. Her father was a musician and played his guitar as she sang for the audience, songs she wrote herself. And let me tell you, she was one of the prettiest girls on town, and more than once did her father have to beat back someone with his guitar." Henry chuckled at that. "Now, you see, her nickname was Nightingale, because of her sweet singing, her real name was Emma Josephine, Jo for short, Turner."

"EJT." Emma gasped. She looked over at the picture, and saw something she hadn't noticed before, "Oh my gosh!" She ran over to the picture, looking at the green jewel on Nightingale's neck-choker. _Her jewel_. Emma pulled out the jewel and turned around, putting it on the choker. Now, she looked completely identical to the picture.

Jane gasped slightly but Henry continued. "Well, Then here's where Fast-shootin' Fenton comes in. He caught her last two songs every night, and as she came off the stage, he always said, "You sounded amazing." Then she'd thank him, and he'd leave, practically disappearing into the night."

Jane interrupted Henry, saying breathlessly, "That's when her songs became more, love oriented. So sweet and sad…"

Henry coughed, and continued, "Well, soon after that, while he and his two friends were out tryin' to catch some robbers, a mysterious figure, wearing what looked like a red cloak, like the ones women used to wear in the winter, appeared with the hood up, so as to hide their identity. The person was stopping them, and they appeared to be talking to the robbers. Well, then it seemed that the robbers were getting away, when BANG!" All of them were shot dead in their tracks. Well, now 'Phantom Slinger' and his friends looked over at the cloaked figure, and saw a red-clothed arm holding a smoking gun."

Henry smiled, "This kept happening routinely, cloaked figure hiding their face comes, bad guys get talked to, then, bang, bad guys are dead. Then at night, Fast-shootin' Fenton watches Nightingale sing her heart out." Henry kept going. "Then, one night, Fenton and Company were hiding from a bunch of robbers, getting ready to ambush them, but they got caught. And lo-and-behold, who comes out of no where to save them, but the cloaked figure. After that, they realized that the figure was helping them."

Henry chuckled, "Then the figure took off the hood, and who was it but _Nightingale!_ After that, Nightingale gave up playing peace-keeper, and fought alongside young Daniel instead. She made a name for herself as the elusive, _Mistress DeFinity._" Emma started hacking, but quickly recovered.

"Soon a love began to truly blossom between the two of them, and people started seeing the two talking together, and walking and chatting, and assumed it was good that the two had become friends, for young Nightingale was an outcast among to society of women, and surely needed someone to talk to. Of course, no one really figured out what was going on."

"When Fenton was in his late teens, he was exposed as the Phantom Slinger and forced into the media spotlight. Things got really nasty after that, and Fenton even considered skipping town and starting over somewhere else, but Nightingale told him-"

"Daniel, you aren't afraid of lookin' down the barrel of a criminal's gun, and yet you're afraid of some grateful townsfolk.' As was written in her diary." Jane told them.

"Fast-shootin' Fenton realized she was right and agreed to stay with her. But still nobody knew of the love the two heroes shared. But then the Gold Family moved into town in May of 1881."

Danny grimaced when Henry motioned to yet another picture before glancing at it warily. Luckily, none of the people in it resembled anyone he knew. Still, his eyes were immediately drawn to the girl in the picture, who was a little older then him.

She looked delicate and refined, a true model of what a girl was supposed to be in that era, dainty and polite. An expensive-looking dress (Much like the one Sam was currently wearing) adorned her, and her fair colored hair (Danny couldn't tell for sure, but guess she was a redhead.) curled loosely around her face, framing it perfectly.

"She looks pretty." Danny observed half-heartedly, knowing he had Emma, earning a grin from Henry. Emma looked at Danny, Danny looked at her and smiled at her reassuringly.

"Many thought so too." He confided to the group. "That's Lunette Gold, Lord Richard Gold's sole child and heiress to the Gold family fortune. Now Lord Richard saw Fenton as sort of a local celebrity, and chose him to marry his daughter. Of course his daughter agreed immediately, because she liked Fenton too. But Fast-shootin' Fenton and Nightingale were not happy at all. That's when they told of how much they loved each other, hoping that Fenton wouldn't have to marry Lunette, but to no avail."

"I'm guessing they didn't live happily ever after…" Danny said, remembering Jane's earlier comment.

Henry frowned. "Lord Richard decided to make the two have a showdown, a duel to the death." Emma grabbed Danny's hand, and they shared a look with wide eyes.

With a sigh, Henry continued, "Lord Richard had heard of how well the two handled guns-"

"The women gossiped that Mistress DeFinity was great with a gun, maybe even better than Fenton himself." Jane put in.

"The way the duel worked was that if Fenton won, he married Lunette… But if Nightingale won, she would have to marry the stable boy, a nasty young man, poor, with no appreciation for women what so ever. Poor Nightingale got the short end of the stick either way."

Henry paused for a moment and Jane had no input at all, but looked at the ground sadly. "As they faced each other at sundown, they shared one last kiss," Emma squeezed Danny's hand, "They walked their twenty paces marks and drew their guns and turned to each other. Nightingale looked at Fenton, and Fenton looked back. He shook his head slightly, but Nightingale raised her gun and shot, the bullet passing his ear so fast her heard it." Danny squeezed Emma's hand this time. "Fenton looked up at the girl he loved, raised his gun and shot her right between the eyes."

Everyone was looking at Danny and Emma now. But mostly Danny.

Henry continued, "Fenton just turned around, not looking back, and walked up to Lord Richard, who stood on one of the porches, and agreed to marry his daughter. With no emotion in his voice, he agreed to what the duel proposed. But in Lord Richard's journal, he wrote that there was such hate in that boy's eyes, that he feared for his own safety. But Fenton was smart enough not to act on his anger."

"But there was something else wrong now. You see, Fenton and Buck got into a big fight not long after Lunette's arrival. We're still not completely sure what it was about, but the two childhood friends became bitter enemies from that day on. So when Buck heard about Lunette and Fenton getting hitched, he just about snapped. Apparently, he kidnapped Lunette and killed her in cold blood, hiding her body where no one could find it. Fenton went ballistic when he heard, and ended up confronting Buck about it. It turned into a gunfight, and Buck was shot dead in the streets. After that, Fenton disappeared, and no one's seen or heard anything of him since." People shot Danny curious looks here, and the blue eyed boy blushed at being put on the spot.

"I've never heard anything about any of this before." He said apologetically. "I mean, Dad's told me millions of stories about my grandfather and great-grandfather, but he's never said a word about a Fast-shootin' Fenton…"

"Neither did mine," Emma spoke up, "I never knew, but I really wish I did…"

"I'm sure it's all just a coincidence." Sam intervened. "Anyways, we should probably get started with that tour now, right?"

"I guess…" Jane said, shooting her cousin a curious look. "Alright then, if you'll all follow me…" Danny paid no heed to his classmates as they followed Jane and Henry out of the room, his eyes fixed on the face of his supposed ancestor with a small frown tugging at his lips. Emma stood beside him, still gripping his hand, as if frightened.

_Events shall go full circle until the end is rectified…_

"Emma? Danny?" Jumping, Danny wheeled around to meet concerned violet eyes. Grimacing, Danny dismissed the strange words and sighed before he turned his attention to the unasked question in Sam's worried glance.

"I'm fine." He assured her with a forced smile. "Come on, we'd better catch up with the group." Emma ran along beside him, releasing his hand. Looking a little troubled, Sam followed her friends as they started towards the rest of their class.

_Fine my butt._ She scoffed in her head. Sighing, she silently wished that Danny would just drop his pride every once in a while and admit when he was worried about something… _I'll talk to him later, when he's not so defensive. Maybe then he'll tell me what's wrong._ Satisfied with this decision, Sam pretended to concentrate on the artifacts around her as her cousin rambled on about them, not taking in a word of it.

Danny, in the meantime, was trying to shake off the feeling of eyes on the back of his neck.

_Get a hold of yourself, Fenton. _He scolded mentally. _Who would be spying on you anyways? Your miles away from any ghosts…_ smiling slightly, Danny shook his groundless worries away, and smiled at Emma, who was gesturing for him to come over excitedly, determined to enjoy every minute of this rare break he'd been offered…

"Look, it's an old Winchester!"

* * *

Emma gasped as someone grabbed her shoulder, and whirled around to look at Jane. "Oh, God you scared me there!" Emma said, smiling and putting a hand over her heart.

"Sorry, My dad wanted me to show you something privately. Come on!" Jane said, grabbing the girl's hand and running along down a hall.

They reached a door and Jane opened it, and turned on an old lamp. She walked over to a glass case and brought Emma over. "This is all the information on the story of Fast-shootin' Fenton and Nightingale." Emma looked down at the old General Store style case, and saw that there were a couple old books, and some loose music paper with lyrics in handwriting eerily similar to her own.

Jane opened the case and pulled out a Red leather-covered book. "Red was Nightingale's favorite color."

Emma giggled, "I can kind of tell." Jane handed her the book.

"This is Nightingale's diary. We were thinking you might want to read up a little bit more on Nightingale's life." Emma gasped at Jane.

"Really? Thank you!" Emma said thankfully.

Jane pointed to the music paper. "Those are the songs she wrote." And she pointed to the other book. "This is the journal of that horrible Lord Richard. We book marked the page where he tells about the way Fenton looked at him after Nightingale's death." Emma nodded. Then Jane moved the light and pointed to two pairs of guns. "The ones on the right were Nightingale's; on the left were Fast-shootin' Fenton's. We weren't able to find the jewel she owned, one of her few prized possessions." Jane lifted the lamp, "And it turns out you have it." The two girls gave little laughs.

"I'll read this during the week." Emma told Jane, who nodded.

Emma looked at the music paper. "Hey, do you think I can borrow that?"

* * *

As everyone sat chatting in the Saloon, getting ready to eat and sitting with their friends, Danny turned to Sam, "Hey, where's Emma? She kind of disappeared during the tour."

"Dunno. Maybe she's getting something from her room. She lucky, her job makes it so that she has no roommate. I'm stuck with _Paulina_." Sam sighed.

"Hey it's not that bad." Danny said smiling.

Sam snorted "Yeah right. And it's going to rain _Abyss Corduroy Fleecy Tees._" Sam said in a mock-Paulina voice.

Jane sat down next to Sam. "Hey guys." She said with a smile.

"Hey Jane." Danny and Sam chorused.

"Um, Jane, do you know where Emma is?" Danny asked.

Jane just smiled and pointed. Danny turned to see Emma, approaching the edge of the old Saloon stage. His eyes widened, as well as Sam's. All the boy's and girl's (but mostly boy's) attentions were on her.

Emma smiled, and said in a distinctly southern accent, "I'm gonna be singin' a couple of songs here tonight, s`that okay with you?" She yelled out over the crowd of teenagers, letting herself slip into the feel of being Nightingale.

A couple of guys shouted "Yeah!" and one wolf whistled. Danny went to stand up to see who did that, but Sam held him down.

"Okay then!" She said, "But first, who here can play guitar?" A ten boys raised their hands.

"No, really." There were a couple of chuckles as three boys put their hands down.

"Okay then, who can actually play _well_, and not just sound like they're atteptin' to air-guitar?" A lot more laughs echoed when four more boys put down their hands. Pointing to one of the three remaining boys, she said, "You there, boy. You get up here." The boy stood up and ran to the stage, climbing up. Emma handed him a guitar and what looked like old music paper. "You think you can play that?" She asked loud enough for everyone to hear as she leaned down to where he sat at the edge of the stage, holding the guitar. The boy nodded shyly and replied softly. "What? I didn't quite catch that." She said, causing a couple of people to chuckle.

"Yeah." The boy voiced louder.

"Good." Emma said and straightened up. She walked over to face the audience as they ate.

Then the guitar music, slow and sweet.

_**My heart is torn in two,**_

_**Can't you see it,**_

_**Bleedin' out on your hands.**_

_**You've caused me so much heartbreak,**_

_**So I'm here to take a stand.**_

The guitar played on a little bit.

_**Our life's not fun and games,**_

_**Can't you feel it,**_

_**They're taking you away from me,**_

_**So please hold on tightly,**_

_**They will see, They will see.**_

_**Through the mountains and the valleys,**_

_**There always is a place for you,**_

_**Beside me there are tales untold,**_

_**To show them what we do.**_

_**Now you hear this bird's sad cry,**_

_**Now tell me what is your reply,**_

_**Quick, before they catch you at my cage,**_

_**If you want to know what happens next,**_

_**Then you have to turn the page.**_

_**Oh my love is clear, My feelings pure,**_

_**Now tell me now if you adore,**_

_**The face lookin' at you from behind these bars,**_

_**I hold your hand to send a message,**_

_**To say that I'll be here,**_

_**So now I say, "Have no fear,"**_

_**When all those criminals clap and cheer,**_

_**For one day you won't be so fast,**_

_**That's why we have to make this last.**_

_**So sweet my love would seem to be,**_

_**If there was a place for me,**_

_**At your side forever and again,**_

_**But all that's keeping us apart,**_

_**Is everything we are,**_

_**Every life we lead,**_

_**Won't come back to me.**_

_**So never choose to end it slowly,**_

_**Make it fast and true,**_

_**So all the pain is gone,**_

_**Before any of the guns have been drawn,**_

_**For life is everything but what we knew.**_

_**Oh, I'm just a bird stuck in it's cage,**_

_**Waitin' to spread it's wings and Fly-y,**_

_**Come set me free,**_

_**Come set me free…**_

The guitar faded off and there was a large amount of applause and a couple more cheers. Danny smiled. He didn't know why, but he felt that song had been written for him.

Henry leaned down next to Jane, "Isn't that…?"

"Yup." Jane replied. Henry stood up and nodded. "I thought so." He turned and walked away.

Sam and Danny raised their eyebrows at the exchange. What…?"

"You'll find out at the end of the show." Jane told them.

As everyone ate, Emma sang a couple more songs, three on love (including the first one), one on betrayal, one on reflections of life and death, and one about a certain Phantom Slinger that they heard about earlier. Emma took the guitar from the boy playing, "Thank you for playing." She told him and he voiced loud enough for everyone to hear that he was happy to help, mostly because he didn't want to have to repeat himself.

Emma approached the edge of the stage. "Now for all of those who are wondering, I'd like to tell you that all of the songs I sang tonight were actually written by Nightingale herself." There was a collective gasp. "I know, wow, right? Well, the job I got out of the hat was that I was a singer here at the Saloon, so you'll be hearing different songs every night, is that good enough for you?" There were cheers and even some girls joined in on the shout of "Yeah!"

"That's good cause you're gonna listen to me anyway!" There was laughter among the crowd as Emma exited the stage and went to grab some food before going to sit with her friends.

"Emma, You sounded amazing!" Danny said as she sat down next to him.

"Thanks Danny!" Emma grinned, slipping out of the Southern accent.

Then both of them blanched. They turned and stared at each other. "And he always said, 'You sounded amazing.'" Danny quoted. Emma smiled at her boyfriend.

"This is both weird and extremely cool at the same time." Emma glanced at Sam and Jane and the three girls started laughing. "Though that story was both very romantic and sad at the same time, I loved it. It really broke my heart."

Jane nodded, "Does that to me all the time." She pointed at the choker. "Did you know that Fenton actually gave that to her."

Emma gasped, "That's why it said 'To N.' Instead of EJT." She touched the choker with her jewel now replaced onto it and felt a rush of gratitude. She leaned over and kissed Danny, who blushed.

"What was that for?" He asked, still blushing at Jane's giggles.

"That's a thank you to your ancestor for giving this to Nightingale." Emma giggled and Danny smiled.

"Aw, so cute." Jane said. They both blushed.

* * *

"Do we really have to do this?"

Henry chuckled a little at Danny's question, taking in the boy's pasty complexion and sudden case of the shakes. Grinning, the man clasped Danny's shoulder, making the smaller boy buckle at the knees.

"Relax kid." He reassured him. "It's like I told Lancer earlier, these guns and bullets are fake. You don't have anything to worry about, trust me. Just remember to wait for the bell, and hope you hit." Somehow, Danny found that difficult to do with Dash grinning down at him in the same predatory fashion of a cat that had just cornered a wounded mouse.

Emma yelled out to Danny, "You'll do fine!"

After a long winded tour about the Old West, followed by a quick dinner (which was mildly entertaining in Sam's tirade against the lack of vegetarian entrees.) Henry had suggested they wrap the evening up with a standoff between the two elected gunslingers (that they knew of, because no one else knew about Emma's second job) before they hit the hay for the night, which the class was more then eager to see.

Which had led to Danny and Dash standing twenty paces from one another in the middle of town, the rest of the class hovering in the nearby buildings.

Danny's heart hammered as he swallowed to keep the pork and beans he'd just gotten done eating from coming back up, one hand clutching his firearm nervously as he tugged at his collar with the other, wondering blankly why it was so hard to breathe.

_It's not like I haven't had a gun pointed at me before._ He reminded himself. _And those were guns that could actually hurt me, too. _Still, those were ecto-guns, and he was in his ghost form. Not facing down one of the nastiest bullies in his school as geeky, clumsy Danny Fenton. Who, by the way, was a fan of Phantom, despite making a sport out of giving wedgies to Fenton.

These were the times when Danny really hated his life…

Before Danny could mull this over any further, a bell sounded to begin the match, and Dash wasted no time drawing his gun and taking a shot at Danny. Acting on instincts of one who has spent a year of being shot at by friends, parents and assorted ghost hunters, Danny dodged to the left before he realized that Dash's aim had been off anyways.

Dash shot again, but Danny kept moving around sporadically to make himself an even more difficult target, yet another trick being hunted had taught him. Still, most of the spectators didn't see it as anything more then geeky Danny Fenton running around like a total coward. A few students even started snickering amongst themselves at how ridiculous the boy looked.

Only Henry, who'd seen these kinds of fights a million times over, realized that Danny's movements were too purposeful for him to be panicking.

"Your friend is one weird kid…" Henry muttered to Sam softly as he watched Danny, not seeing his niece's flinch. "Has he ever done anything like this before?"

"Come on, Uncle Henry." She said, faking a laugh. "How many high school kids spend their spare time getting shot at?" Henry frowned at this, but didn't respond, and his attention was drawn back to the streets below when Dash decided to taunt Danny verbally.

"What's the matter, Fenton?" The jock sneered, obviously getting his kicks out of the situation. "Too scared to do anything but run around like a loser?" Danny stiffened at the word 'loser,' his hand going for his gun before he even had time to stop and think about it.

He drew the weapon and took fire in one quick, fluid movement, and the next thing anyone knew Dash had fallen to a sitting position in the dirt, a vivid red mark in his abdomen and a stunned look on his face. And with the exception of a smirking Sam, the rest of the class seemed just as shocked as he did.

"Looks like you're the loser this time, Dash." Danny snapped, glaring at the boy before turning and starting away. Hitching up her skirts, Sam ran to catch up with him, but Emma beat her to him, despite being behind a few seconds ago (probably from wearing dresses so much, Sam figured) and Emma practically tackled him in a hug, "Danny that was amazing!!"

"That was awesome!" She said gleefully when she was matching Danny's strides. "Jeeze Danny, why didn't you tell me quick draw was genetic?" Any further teasing remarks disappeared when Sam took in the look on Danny's face. "Hey, are you okay?" Emma let him go to look at him concernedly when she said this.

"Fine." He sighed, not wanting to talk about how much Dash's remark had upset him. Sam seemed to accept this, however reluctantly. Emma frowned, and then smiled, "You WON! It was so cool! I wonder if it will turn out the same way a second time…?"

Danny laughed, "I doubt it."

"Well, now that the match is over I guess it's time for bed." Sam reminded the boy, making a face. "Meaning I've got to put up with Paulina as my roommate until morning. That's sure to be fun…" Danny's sour mood disappeared at the thought of the entertainment Sam's living arrangements would bring for him.

"Oh come on, Sam." He laughed. "It probably won't be that bad…" Sam scowled at him before she smile mischievously.

"Well…" She sang out. "I guess it won't be as bad as you and your roomie." Danny blinked at that, looking confused before glaring at her warily.

"What about my roommate?" He asked suspiciously.

"Didn't you hear?" Sam asked innocently. "You and Dash are sharing a room. And considering how mad he probably is at you right now, it's a good thing this whole ghost mess made you a light sleeper." Danny groaned to himself as Sam pranced ahead to join up with the group as they headed to the inn (Not skipped, though. Goths never skipped, after all.)

Emma giggled. "Good luck with that!" Before she ran off and caught up with Sam, who she whispered something to, then Sam laughed, and they exchanged a high-five.

_Why me…?_ Danny wondered woefully as he reluctantly headed in for the night. This vacation was starting to look bleaker and bleaker by the minute…

* * *

She sighed in irritation as these new invaders continued decimating her town, disturbing her chances for a peaceful afterlife. Her lips thinning, the girl glared out the window of her room sourly at the group below before her eyes were drawn to a boy straggling behind the others and she gasped loudly.

_It can't be…_ She thought, rising to her feet and pressing a semi-transparent porcelain-colored hand against the glass_. It's impossible… it's been over a hundred years…_

But there he was, clear as day walking along in the same easy stride she remembered so well, identical to the man she'd loved so long ago…

"…Daniel…?"


	3. Shadows and Desert Roses!

_**Disclaimer:**_ I don't own Danny Phantom, or Nickelodeon. If I did, Danny Phantom wouldn't have been cancelled, then would it?

**Horse Ghost:** That didn't sound very cowboy.

**Youngblood:** Whatever, I'm gonna make them just about ready to throw him in the Crazy persons' hooscow!

**Horse Ghost:** Much better!

* * *

**Shadows and Desert Roses!**

_Danny looked into the mirror in front of him, looking at the identical image, dressed in the cowboy garb. Then the mirror image of himself reached out and grabbed his shirt, eyes worried. __**"Don't trust her!"**__He said urgently._

"_Huh?" Danny asked, subtly trying to pull away from his reflection._

"_**Don't trust her!"**__ The reflection repeated. In front of his eyes, the image of Emma falling away from him appeared._

"_Danny!" She screamed, reaching out to him. He dove forward and tried to grab her hand, but she was sucked down into the nothingness of the black that surrounded him._

_Then he felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned around and looked at Emma who smiled. They kissed and as he pulled away and opened his eyes, and saw, not his girlfriend, but the pretty Lunette girl from the photo. She smiled and turned him around and he saw Emma standing across from him in different clothes, a red shirt, jeans and cow boy boots._

_He raised his arm and saw he was holding the gun from earlier. His eyes widened as he pulled the trigger. And then he watched, as he saw his body shoot, and watched the bullet speed forward and hit Emma between the eyes and watched her fall back wards in slow motion, blood splatter flying slowly away._

"_**Don't trust her!"**__ His reflection's voice said urgently as he watched. __**"Don't trust her!"**_

* * *

Danny's eyes snapped open and he moved just in time for the pillow that was going to stifle him awake to come down on thin air. He looked over at Dash with a glare, and Dash punched him. "Ow, what was that for?" Danny asked, rubbing his arm.

"That was for ruining my fun by waking up before I could wake you up, Fentina." Dash told him.

Danny scowled, and opened his mouth to tell him about how important the dream he'd been having was, when he decided against it. Dash didn't need to know that information, nor did he need it.

Dash turned and walked back to his own bed, and laid back down, seeing as it was 11:59. Strike that, 12:00. Danny lay back down and turned over on his side. He heard Dash's snores, and slowly fell back to sleep.

* * *

"_Paulina…"_ Emma whispered in a creepy voice, Sam snickered slightly as she pretended to sleep, lying on her side to watch Paulina's reaction.

"_Paulina…"_ Paulina's eyes flickered open to stare down the barrel of one of the old fashioned guns. _"Bang, bang. You're dead."_

Paulina screamed at the sound of two bangs of the guns, (Emma had soundproofed the room with her ghost powers) and Emma quickly turned invisible.

Paulina jolted up in bed, and Sam pretended to sleep. Paulina looked at Sam, breathing heavily, as Sam pretended to just wake up. "What's wrong Paulina?" She asked.

"There was a ghost, and she shot at me and... and… and…" Paulina gasped.

"You must've just had a nightmare, now go back to sleep." Sam said.

"Yeah… sleep… right…" Paulina said and lay down and rolled over.

She was out like a light before Emma turned visible and she and Sam had a silent giggle fit before Emma waved goodbye and disappeared again.

* * *

In the morning, Emma sat at a table, nibbling at the edge of the pancake she held in one hand, with no syrup of course, and a book in the other.

She looked at little tired, but she felt full of energy and was ready to get on with the day. She read intently, ankles crossed under the table properly, sitting straight-backed and smiled and giggled at something she read.

Sam sat down in front of her with a smile. Emma put down the book and looked at her. Then they both cracked grins at each other.

"Paulina?" Emma asked.

"No clue." Sam replied.

Their grins grew, and they laughed together. Danny came over and sat down with them. He kissed Emma on the cheek. "Good morning." He said with a smile.

"Good morning." Emma replied.

Then, Paulina and Star walked by their table, "And she pointed that gun straight at my head and said, 'bang bang, you're dead!' And I swear, the bangs were so loud, and real, and it was just so scary!"

Star patted her on the shoulder, "The Goth girl's probably right, it was just a scary nightmare."

"But the ghost seemed so _real_." Paulina said.

"They always do…" Star said as the walked out of hearing range.

Emma and Sam looked at each other, and started into a new round of laughter. Danny's eyes went wide. "You didn't."

Emma grinned, "Yes, yes we did!" And the two broke down again in a fit of stifled giggles.

Danny looked shocked for a minute, then a grin grew on his face, and he just shook his head. When they were done, Sam and Danny went to go get food where Emma pointed out.

Emma lifted her hand and touched the jewel on the choker she wore. She looked down at the book she'd been reading, Nightingale's diary. "Daniel…" She whispered, thoughtfully.

"Huh?" She heard Danny's voice and looked up alarmed.

"Oh, um, nothing, Danny. I was just thinking." Emma said quickly, picking up the book and getting up saying, "I have to drop something off in my room and then I'll be right back." Danny reached for one of the pancakes on her plate. Emma smiled and said, "Don't touch those."

"Dang." Danny said, and drew back to his plate of food, Sam chuckling slightly.

* * *

When Emma returned, she finished eating the pancakes as Danny watched sadly. Emma smiled and shared one with him, and Sam laughed at the mental picture of preschoolers sharing their lunches.

Then, as they left the Saloon, a couple of boys were being talked to on the side by Henry, nodding their heads, and heading off in the other direction. Danny raised an eyebrow at the five boys heading away and was brought to attention by Henry clapping his large hands.

"Okay, today, were gonna give you some fun things to do. Like in a few minutes, we're gonna be showin' you how to ride horses." There were a couple of cheers.

"Now, boys come with me, Jane will take the girls, cause there are two was to ride horses, one for boys and one for the girls. Jane will explain to the girls what to do, I'll explain to the boys, and then we'll bring you all together to see how you do." Henry finished.

* * *

As they all split up again, Jane took the girls into a stable and explained that the girls usually rode side-saddle, but there were ways to ride forward-facing in a dress. As she explained how, Emma pictured in all in her head, and figured it should be pretty easy.

She wandered away slightly and began to examine the old metal name plates on the stalls.

Thunderfoot, Shadow, Georgia, Alexander, Goldmane… Emma stopped at one stall and saw the name plate. _Desert Rose_. She put her hand on the name plate and skimmed her fingers across it.

"Emma….. Emma…. Emma!" Emma snapped back into attention.

"Yes?" She said, turning around. Sam stood with Jane, the girls filing out.

"What are you doing?" Sam asked.

"Desert Rose." Emma said, pointing to the stall. "It just attracted me for some reason…"

"Oh, that was Nightingale's horse. A beautiful creature, Almost red in color. I wish I could have seen her for real." Jane told her. She reached onto a banister and pulled off a picture of a young girl and a little colt. "We only have an old photograph."

She showed it to Sam and Emma, "Her father's old mare gave birth to her, but Rose was sick, and Nightingale's father was gonna kill her. Nightingale made a deal with her father that if she could make her healthy, she could keep her. He agreed."

"Jane, where are we supposed to go?" A girl stuck her head in the stable.

"Just go to where there's a second stable and wait outside for the boys." Jane yelled back.

"Okay!" The girl left to relay the message to the others.

"Anyway, so she ended up getting her healthy again and was able to keep her. And that little sickly horse turned into one of the fastest horses in the town. The horse came to love her so much; it would have died for her. After Nightingale died, that horse died of heartbreak. We have a horse here that looks just like her, so we named her after Desert Rose." Jane finished.

"Cool, I can't wait to meet her! Come on!" Emma ran out, followed by Jane and Sam. They ran to the group of girls who waited outside the other stable.

Jane smiled, "Come on, they're being slow-pokes. We'll go ahead."

Jane directed all of them to follow.

* * *

Danny listened carefully when Henry went over how to approach and ride a horse correctly. "Don't approach from the back. You can spook `em and they'd kick you and people have died from that." There were a couple of nervous gulps.

Danny listened to how you got them to move, and realized that Hollywood movies were really historically incorrect. _Wow, I'm learning something and not being totally bored by it. Feels weird._ Danny smiled.

After Henry finished and questions were being answered, Danny decided to look around. He looked at all the old tools hanging on the walls. He glanced over at a stall. He walked over and read the name plate. "Shadow." He read aloud.

"That was Fast-Shootin' Fenton's horse, you know." Henry said, and Danny jumped.

Henry chuckled. "The story goes that Fenton found this wild horse, and wild horses are hard to tame. But Shadow had been attacked by coyotes and Fenton saw something of himself in that horse, which was traveling alone, bleedin' to death. So, he nursed it back to health, and it stuck by his side from that day on, woulda died for him if it could. When Fast-shootin' Fenton disappeared, so did Shadow." Henry handed him a picture he got from a banister. The horse in it was with Fast-shootin Fenton, at about the same age as Danny, and the horse was black with a white diamond-like shape on his head and a larger white spot on his back.

"Wow, that's pretty cool." Danny said, looking at the picture.

"The horse knew who saved him, and he was grateful." Henry told him. The rest of the boys were standing around, having listened to the story. "You know, we have a horse just like him outside waitin' to be ridden. Names Shadow too, actually."

Danny smiled, "Awesome!"

"Well, come on, let's go meet up with the girls again." Henry clapped his hand and all the boys ran out of the stable, whooping and hollering in their excitement to ride.

* * *

They met up with the girls at a big fenced in area, where the horses were trotting around in anticipation.

"Danny!" Emma yelled, waving him over. He ran to meet her and Sam. "I'm so excited. I hope I'll find Desert Rose."

"Who?" Danny asked, confused.

"A horse named after Nightingale's horse, Desert Rose, Danny." Sam told him, as Emma grinned in excitement.

"Before we start, me and Jane will demonstrate how to get on and ride the horses." Henry called out. He opened a gate, let Jane in and closed it behind himself. They each approached the horses carefully from the front, the horses walking calmly towards them.

Henry said the directions out loud to the boys first, and Jane stood to the side, holding her horse's reigns. He stepped into the stirrup, stepped over and sat on the saddle. He demonstrated how to get the horse to walk, trot, and run, then to turn and then to stop.

Jane got on her horse, "Okay, girls. Follow my directions!" She put her foot on the stirrup and showed them how to tuck their leg to ride side saddle, and then how to sit normally on the saddle, facing forward, in the dresses.

"Okay, Who here want to be the first eight to get their horses?" Henry called out, letting his horse go. Emma, Sam, Danny and a bunch of others volunteered and stampeded through the gate.

Emma spotted Desert Rose at once, almost identical to the horse in the picture, except fully grown. Desert Rose seemed to recognize her too, and trotted quickly over and began to nuzzle her head into Emma's shoulder.

Danny watched this, and looked around for the unique colors of Shadow. When he didn't see them, he felt disappointed. Then he felt something pulling at the shoulder of his vest. He looked over, and there was Shadow, nibbling at the black vest.

Danny pet the horse's face, and told him, "No wonder Fast-shootin' Fenton decided to call you Shadow, I didn't hear you at all." The horse took this as a compliment and gave out a little neigh.

Danny laughed. He took a hold of the reigns and pulled his new friend over to where Emma and Desert Rose were bonding, both of them moving silently. "Don't you think Danny and Shadow are cute?" Emma told the horse, who gave a very horse-y nod. "I think so too. But Danny's mine, you can have Shadow." The horse seemed to neigh in agreement.

"Hey." Danny said, making Emma jump. Danny chuckled and Shadow nudged him toward her as Desert Rose bumped Emma and the two ran into each other. Emma and Danny blushed. Desert Rose neighed.

"You are very conniving." Emma told her, backing off of Danny. The horse nibbled Emma's hair. "It's okay." Emma said petting her.

Sam came over with an all black horse trotting happily behind her. "Do you have a feeling the horses pick you before you pick them?" She asked and the horse nudged her and neighed.

Danny and Emma looked at each other and back at Sam. "Yeah." They said together.

"Okay boys and girls, mount the horses." Henry shouted. Emma got on the proper side-saddle style, as did Sam. Danny sat down on the saddle. Emma's horse turned its head to see if her rider was on safely.

"I'm okay." Emma told Desert Rose. The horse took that as the truth and Emma smiled at Shadow and Danny. "I feel complete." She told him and Danny laughed, and admitted to himself he felt the same.

Suddenly there was a yell, and the sound of thundering hoofs as one boy's horse suddenly took off, running and leaping over the fence, his rider holding on around its neck.

Emma switched sitting positions and kicked Desert Rose into a run, Danny and everyone watched as Emma and Desert Rose leaped over the fence. Danny urged Shadow to follow and leaped over the fence as well, Danny quickly caught up with Emma and Desert Rose, but the captive boy was still far ahead of them.

Emma leaned down and whispered to her horse, "Come on Rose, I know you can do it, come on!" Desert Rose, suddenly sped up and Shadow fought to keep up with her.

Emma yelled to the boy on the horse, "Johnny! Grab the reigns and pull!"

"No!" Johnny yelled back, eyes closed, head buried in the horse's neck, "I won't let go!"

Danny came up on the other side of the horse, "Come on Johnny!"

"No!"

Emma pulled her horse up close next to Johnny's, yelling over the thundering hooves, "Johnny, It'll be okay, I won't let anything happen to you!"

Johnny opened his eyes and looked at Emma, who had a comforting face on. He reached out to Emma, who grabbed his arm and she pulled him onto her horse, as he put his foot in the loose stirrup and swung his leg over to sit behind her. He closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around her waist, shaking fearfully.

Emma stopped, but Danny kept going. Danny reached forward and grabbed the reigns of Johnny's runaway horse, and they both slowed to a stop. Danny led him back to Emma, and they rode together back to the cheers of the classmates.

Danny and Emma grinned at each other tiredly, Johnny's horse in between them, as Desert Rose kept nudging him, as if reprimanding him.

As they approached the class, there were shouts of amazement and triumph towards them. Henry came up to them after Emma helped a shaken Johnny down from the saddle and got down herself, Danny joining her on the ground.

"How did you learn to ride like that?" Henry asked amazed.

Emma and Danny shared a glance. "We didn't." They said together. Johnny was being comforted by his girlfriend, who was hugging him.

Henry took the other horse from Danny and Sam ran over to them, her horse trailing behind, even though she didn't hold the reigns. "You guys were amazing!" Sam cried out excitedly. Sam's horse went over to Desert Rose and Shadow and they seemed to be having a conversation of their own.

"Thanks," Emma said.

"Lets get on with the day now shall we!" Henry yelled, getting everyone's attention. "We'll leave the horses for tomorrow, and get a move on to the next activity!"

Everyone, especially Johnny agreed.

Shadow, Rose, and Grim, as Sam's horse was called, followed the three friends all the way until the gate closed behind them.

* * *

"It's him all right. It's Daniel…" She said to herself happily, looking out the window as the three friends walked away from the horse pen. "That's _my_ Daniel…."

* * *

"_**Don't trust her!"**__ Danny's reflection said, staring him down once again. Danny looked away, and saw the pictures of the other people, like the ones when he first got there, on the wall._

_He looked back, and realized the reflection wasn't his reflection, it was a photo._

"_**Don't trust her!"**__ The photo of Fast-shootin' Fenton told him urgently._

"_Who?" Danny asked it, "Why?"_

_Then, he saw a picture of Lunette in his mind, thousands of pictures, all pulled into one, like looking at film frame by frame, but faster, each turning to a new angle, Lunette's expression from a smile to a frown, an angry, upset face._

_He again saw the image of Emma falling, blood flying from her head where the bullet hit her._

"_**Don't trust her!"**__ Fast-shootin' Fenton hissed. __**"Don't trust-**_

* * *

Danny blinked as he was shaken awake by Emma. "You fell asleep." She told him, as he lifted his head from the table, next to his lunch.

"Ugh…" Danny groaned, cracking his back.

"I'm tired from chasing that horse too Danny, but you don't have to practically pass out on us. We were gone for two minutes and you were out cold." Emma told him jokingly.

Danny grinned at her, "Sorry…" But he still had a strange feeling from that dream, which he remembered vaguely.

"Don't worry about it." Sam told him.

* * *

Danny and Sam stood at the back of the group of classmates, Emma up front being an example, while listening intently to Jane talk about how she's a 'perfect example of what women were supposed to be like, way back when.'

Sam sighed. "Could this get anymore boring now?" She huffed, obviously annoyed at the explanation of how women were basically not aloud to do anything, in her opinion of course.

Emma stood up front, smiling, Jane gesturing to the key points of clothing that stylizes the era they were from.

She handed Emma an old gun to hold, and Emma grinned as she tossed it in her hands slightly, flipping it over to look at it. "This is a Winchester rifle."

"My Favorite." Emma said loudly.

Jane continued, "It was the first automatic rifle ever made. Made it so that more people could be killed quicker. The creator's daughter went crazy, saying that the spirits of the people the gun killed were coming after her, and a psychic told her to build a house, and never stop building, to ward off the evil spirits. In the end, the woman died of old age, and her house is a maze of staircases to nowhere, doors that open to the outside, five stories in the air, and the best place to get lost."

Emma smiled, lifted the rifle, aimed at Paulina and said, "Bang! Bang!" loudly. Paulina, jumped slightly, and Dash laughed, resulting in her slapping him on the arm.

Emma was allowed to go back to stand with Danny and Sam. "Nice bit with the story of the crazy woman with the spirits." Danny commented, and Emma grinned.

"This is so much fun!" Emma said happily.

Sam laughed slightly "Yeah, yeah, it is." She said, watching Paulina yell quietly at Dash.

Emma smiled, "Don't worry Sam; something exciting is bound to happen soon."

As soon as that was said, there were loud noises and shouts. The entire class ran outside and there they saw five boys, dressed as outlaws, hauling sacks out of the bank, to a horse waiting patiently outside.

Henry grinned and clapped Dash and Danny on the shoulders. "Come on boys, you're the gunslingers here, go do your job." And with that he shoved the two of them out into the center of the road.

The two looked at each other, and scowled. They each ran to their own separate areas, making a promise of not working together, silently. The other boys drew their guns and took a shot at Danny, who ducked and rolled to the side, drawing his gun and shooting the boy who held the horse.

The boy fell down, and Henry yelled to the boy to stay there. The boy put his head back down.

Two of the boys ducked behind some water barrels, as Dash shot at them, the bullets going over their heads. They looked at one another, nodded and stood up, both shooting at Dash, and one bullet hit, sending Dash into the dirt.

Dash followed the other boy's example and stayed where he was, after Henry told him he was out of the fight.

Danny looked at Dash, lying hopelessly on the ground. "Oh great, I'm on my own…"

"Hey," Sam said to Jane. "Where's Emma?"

Jane shrugged and the two girls looked around, but Emma was no where to be seen.

Danny dodged as a couple shots were fired his way. The two boys loading the horse stopped and joined up with the two who shot at Dash. And Danny was alone.

Danny looked around, and suddenly, a figure in a red cloak jumped down out of no where and took out a gun and shot at one of the boys, hitting him in the head, sending him tumbling backwards.

Danny stared at the person.

The figure had its hood up, and it turned to him. They walked over, and told him. "Let's show them what we're made of."

Danny smiled.

The boys/bandits were scattered, one hiding behind a post of a porch, two behind barrels. The one behind the post shot at the figure and the figure ducked, shot back, and the boy went back behind the post.

One of the boys from behind the barrel stood slightly, mouthed something to the boy behind the post a couple yards away and ducked back down when shot at.

"They're planning something." Danny said warily.

The figure laughed slightly. "Of course…"

Suddenly, the boys all came out of their places and ran to different points, dodging the bullets Danny and the figure shot at them.

Then, they stopped, and it turns out the two fighters were surrounded.

They looked at the three enemies, and they stood, back to back, facing three against two. The figure looked at Danny over their shoulder, and he looked back, seeing into the shadows of the hood, a smiling face.

Suddenly, Danny knelt down, the figure flipping over his back, he stood quickly and they shot the two boys facing them. They turned to the third boy, who tried to look brave. They looked at one another, standing shoulder-to shoulder, raised their guns, and shot, one to the head, the other to the heart, sending the boy back into the dirt.

"Who _is_ that?" a girl asked to no one in particular.

The figure smiled at Danny, and pulled off the hood to reveal Emma, grinning widely. There was a collective gasp from everyone, and the rush of whispers.

Then, there was clapping. And it grew louder, until there were whistles and cheers. Danny and Emma smiled at each other.

Dash and the five boys stood back up from their 'dead' positions and dispersed into the crowd of students that rushed out to congratulate and cheer on Emma and Danny. Then, as soon as it had started, they dispersed off, leaving Danny and Emma alone in the street, smiling.

Sam, Jane and Henry walked over to the two gunslingers. "I have never seen such a good gunfight in all my years working here. I usually set at least one up a day, and the people aren't that experienced, but that was amazing!" Henry said.

Jane seemed to be getting over some form of shock, and just stood there in awe. Sam was grinning, "That was such a cool move, when you flipped over his back like that! You guys were such a great team!"

Dash wandered over. "Hey, what about me?"

"What about you?" Emma asked.

Dash glared. "You did well too, kid." Henry said, clapping a large hand on his shoulder. "Now that that shows over, let all go get some dinner."

As they all wandered towards the Saloon after Henry bellowed that over the chattering crowd, Jane talked to Henry. "Do you think they can handle the one that you planned for them tomorrow?" she asked.

"They handled today like a pro, even took up a challenge I didn't plan with that horse. They'll do fine." Henry reassured her.

Jane nodded.

* * *

Danny looked over into one of the areas between buildings and saw someone standing there, a girl, in the setting sun.

He turned away from Emma and Sam, who were chatting as they walked towards the Saloon and walked towards this new figure.

"Hey," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Mr. Viper told us to go to the Saloon for dinner."

The girl turned around, and Danny gasped, the girl from his dreams, though now he could hardly remember what her place in the dream was. "I knew you came back for me." She told him, and faded away.

Danny's eyes widened and he scrambled at the ground, trying to run quickly. He caught up to Sam and Emma, Emma somehow back in her dress, at the door. They turned around and stared at their wide-eyed friend. He ran up the steps to the Saloon, and stopped.

"_I saw a ghost!"_


	4. Ghosts Of The Past!

_**Disclaimer:**_I don't own Danny Phantom, or Nickelodeon. I wish I did, but I don't.

**Jazz:** Come, you abused unwanted wretch, I'll drive you to school.

* * *

**Ghosts of the Past!**

Emma went over to comfort her boyfriend, who was huffing and puffing like the Big Bad Wolf. "Danny, it's okay. Calm down." She let him rest against her as he stood, supporting him as he regained his breath.

"Yeah, you see ghosts all the time!" Sam said simply.

Emma glared at her. It was obvious that there was something different about this encounter.

Sam looked at Emma and shrugged, "What? I'm just pointing out that he's practically the kid from _The Sixth Sense_."

Emma rolled her eyes and turned back to Danny, who was now breathing normally, but still had his arm resting on Emma's shoulder, somewhat of tiredness, somewhat of the fact he liked the close contact to her.

"What did you see?" She asked him softly.

"The girl… The girl from my dreams…" He replied quietly, mostly out of the shock wearing off.

"Who?" Sam asked, stepping forward.

* * *

Danny, Emma and Sam stood before the wall of photos. "Her." Danny said pointing to the photo of the girl he'd seen earlier. "Lunette Gold."

Though the photo had no life to it, he still had to resist the urge to shudder. He had no idea why his meeting with her was giving him such a reaction, it just did. _Maybe it's the dreams._ He thought.

"What was going on in your dream when you first saw her?" Emma asked.

"Dream_**s**_. I've had two so far. And I can't remember. It's like a blur." Danny put a hand on his head.

"Well, did she say anything? When you saw her for real, I mean." Sam asked.

"Yeah, she'd said, 'I knew you'd come back for me.'" Danny quoted. He couldn't suppress the light shiver that went through his body.

"She probably thinks that you are Fast-Shootin' Fenton!" Sam cried out.

"Most likely." Emma agreed, "But she probably won't bother us anymore." _I hope…_

Danny nodded, "Probably not…" Then he smiled at them. "Come on guys, we're missing out on all the food."

"Yeah! I'm starving!" Emma said and Sam nodded vigorously. As they all headed out, Emma took Danny's hand and gave him a smile. He smiled back, and Sam yelled, "Hurry up guys!"

Emma ran, trailing Danny along with her, as they both laughed.

* * *

Emma grabbed a hot roll from the table of food as she passed it, quickly ate it as she made her way precariously over to the stage.

She climbed up and put on the southern accent she had the night before. "Okay, where's that boy from yesterday?" She called out, picking up the guitar.

* * *

Danny sat down across from Sam with a plateful of food and picked up his fork and began shoveling it down his throat happily.

"Slow down before you-" Sam began, when Danny started hacking, and then managed to clear his airways, "-choke…" Sam finished.

She leaned one arm on the table, and slowly ate her food with her other hand, sighing once or twice contentedly, listening to Emma's singing. "This is great…" She said with a smile.

"Yeah, the Old West really seems like the place to be, doesn't it." Danny replied, now eating slower, resting his head on his elbow.

The two friends sat in a comfortable silence, listening to the chatter and the singing that seemed to float comfortably around them. Then Danny looked over to the corner of the room lazily and saw the girl, _Lunette_, looking at him from the corner.

Danny's eyes widened and he put his head down and whispered to Sam, "Sam, she's back, that Lunette girl! She's staring at us from the corner!"

Sam's eyes widened and she turned to look, but no one was there. "Danny, there isn't anyone there."

Danny lifted his head and looked, and sure enough, the girl was gone.

_This is crazy,_ Danny thought, giving off a low growl. _That ghost girl just ruined an amazingly calm moment for me._ He huffed slightly, and then turned back to his food.

Twenty minutes later, Emma finished up her little concert, bringing forth a small round of applause, and she quickly joined her two friends at the table with a plate of food of her own. She smiled at them, "So, what's going o-on?" She asked cheerfully, prolonging the o in on.

"Nothing, what's up with yo-u." Sam replied, copying her and drawing out the word you.

"Hey, I can be happy if I wanna be." Emma replied, and began eating, allowing Danny to take bits and pieces of food for himself.

"Danny said he saw that ghost girl again in here." Sam said with a smile, taking a bite out of a fried potato as her best friend tried desperately to signal that he didn't want her to tell.

Emma gasped, "He did? Danny, you did?" She asked, leaning forward slightly, blocking the steady flow of excess food from her plate.

Danny frowned and tried to look for a way to get to the food that was blocked by her arm. "Yeah, I did, so what? No big deal." He said distractedly.

Sam snorted, "It was too a big deal, you were freaking out!"

Emma took a small piece of meat off her plate and ate it. Danny whimpered. "Food."

Emma sighed and leant back. "Fine." Danny took some of the meat off her plate and ate it with a grin, making Emma laugh at the silly expression he had on.

"This is still the place to be." Sam commented. Her two friends agreed happily.

Emma grinned. "I know what my summer job is going to be." She sung brightly.

"Same here." Sam agreed.

"Me too!" Danny laughed.

"I say a toast!" Emma said jokingly, lifting her water glass with her two friends. "To friendship, to fun summer jobs, and to the town of Harmony!"

Her two friends laughed and they downed their cups of water, and grinned at their own silliness.

* * *

Emma stood up. "I do believe I'm gonna turn in early." She told her friends, not fifteen minutes after their toast. "Night."

"Night." Sam replied halfheartedly, now having distracted herself with a little black book she was writing in.

As Emma started heading out, Danny jumped up and followed her, catching her at the door. "You know, I think I'll go with you." He smiled at her and she smiled back.

As they walked along the dark dirt road through the middle of the town, heading to the place where their quarters' were, having been put in rooms that actually belonged to people in the good old 1880s, Danny pulled Emma to the side, into an alley, leading her along.

"Where are we going?" She asked excitedly.

"Shh." He hushed her with a smile.

He lead her out of the alley, and they stopped, having the perfect view across the plains, dark brown shadowed dirt attaching to a clear dark blue velvet sky.

Danny held her hand in his and led her to a back porch that attached to the building next to them. She sat down on the step, and he sat next to her and they gazed up at the stars.

Emma smiled. "This is what they used to do together you know."

"Who?" Danny asked, looking over at Emma.

"Fast-Shootin' Fenton and Nightingale. They'd sneak off and watch the stars together." Emma laughed slightly. "I guess those would be the real 'good old times'."

The couple laughed together.

Danny took Emma's hand in both of his own, smiling softly at her. She turned to face him. They leaned in and kissed sweetly, Emma taking back her hands and putting them around his neck and pulling him closer.

Suddenly, Danny was kicked off the porch and he landed in the dirt. As Emma ran to kneel at his side, he glared up at Dash, who grinned in triumph.

Emma stood up and growled angrily at Dash, eyes glowing black. "_Emma_." Danny said pointedly, and Emma blinked and looked at him, eyes shifting back to her normal brown. She reached over and took his hand, pulling him up, whispering a quick "sorry".

"Hey Fen-toenail! It's almost time for lights out, and we're supposed to be back in our rooms, but you're out here making out with your little girlfriend. Come on loser, it's time to go." Dash said, giving Danny a push.

Emma frowned and went over to Danny and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Good night Danny." She said, sending Dash one final glare before hurrying off to wherever her quarters are.

"Gross," Dash said, "Loser love."

Danny glared at his roomie and hurried along to get to his room before Dash.

* * *

Emma sat at the wooden desk in her room, the red diary that she'd been reading open in the center, old oil lamp burning brightly. The night sky was visible through the window across the desk, a shooting star flashed by, unseen.

Emma stopped reading the passage in the diary and flipped to the first couple of empty pages she could find and looked at them curiously. Then, a drop of red liquid fell onto the paper, then another and another.

She looked up and in her reflection on the window; there was a bleeding hole in her forehead, right in between her eyes.

* * *

Emma gasped and woke up, eyes wide. She breathed deeply and saw that the oil lamp was beginning to run low. She looked at the journal and saw that there was no blood on the page, only writing.

"I just fell asleep." She told herself with a sigh. She stood up and rubbed her neck, which had begun to get sore from sleeping sitting in the chair.

She sighed and walked over to the wash basin, a porcelain bowl with a matching porcelain pitcher of water, with a mirror set into a wooden back and a set of a comb and a hairbrush.

Emma poured some of the water into the wash basin and splashed her face with the water, then looked into the mirror.

Her eyes widened.

* * *

"_AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"_

Sam's eyes flashed open at the sound of the scream. _Emma!_ She jumped out of bed and ran out of the room, ignoring Paulina's tired questions and ran down the halls and stairs of the building and out the door.

She ran towards the building where Emma was staying, barely noticing that Danny had joined her in their haste to get to Emma. Danny barely cared that he had been woken up from another warning dream as he ran to Emma's room, led quickly by Sam who had visited Emma previously.

Only two students cared enough to ask what was going on, but were ignored.

Danny opened Emma's door and was greeted by darkness. With no electricity, he waited until his eyes adjusted slightly before he stepping into the room, going over to the huddled form of Emma, who sat on the ground, back to the post of her bed, face hidden in her arms with her knees pulled up to her chest.

Danny knelt down next to her. "Emma, look at me." He told her, and she shook her head, a muffled "no" came from her arms. "Emma, please. You probably won't see anything anyway."

Emma lifted her head slowly. She looked at Danny, and then looked at the mirror across from where she sat. "Danny." She looked back at him with fear in her eyes. "I had a _hole_ in my _head_ Danny."

Danny's eyes widened. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close, and she buried her face into his shoulder. Sam went to her other side and knelt down, placing a hand comfortingly on her friend's shoulder.

"There is definitely something weird going on in this town."

* * *

Danny got Emma to go back to sleep, wondering how on earth she would be able to sleep after seeing a hole in her own head. _Probably the same way I did after getting zapped by the Fenton Portal._ He thought to himself. _Oh, wait, I didn't._

Danny jumped when Sam spoke up next to him as they walked out of the building. "I swear, I thought somebody died when she screamed like that."

"To her, she thought she did." Danny told her in all seriousness.

They waved as they separated to go to their quarters. Danny went up the stairs and tried to open the door to his room, but it was locked. "Dash! Dash, open the door!"

"Why? That girlfriend of yours woke me up, why don't you go sleep with her?" Dash yelled back.

Danny blushed. "No, Dash! Just open the door!" Danny sighed, _This better not be what its like in college._

He leaned against the wall. "Oh come on Dash, quit being so immature!" _Stupid secret identity, I can't phase through the wall or anything!_

"You're the loser, figure something out, or sleep on the floor out there!" Dash shouted back.

"Fine!" Danny yelled and slid down the wall to rest at the bottom. Then the door opened and a pillow and a blanket were dropped outside the door. Danny scrambled to get to the door before it closed, but was too slow and the door was closed and locked before he could get to it.

"Oh, come on, you couldn't do that for me earlier?" Danny asked, banging on the door.

"No!" Dash replied, laughing.

Danny groaned and grabbed the pillow and blanket. "Might as well try to get comfortable."

* * *

When Sam walked into her room, Paulina lifted her head. "Welcome to Club Sanity." She said. Sam cocked an eyebrow. "So what happened?" Paulina asked, resting her head on her arms, looking over at the Goth.

"My friend had a nightmare, it was pretty nasty." Sam replied, laying down on the bed and getting under the covers.

"Is she okay?" Paulina asked casually, picking at her nail polish with a frown.

"Yeah, we got her calm, she sleeping right now." Sam told her roommate.

"That's good, I guess." Paulina said, flipping over onto her back.

"Uh-huh." Sam said shortly. Paulina looked over at Sam.

"Did we just have a civil conversation?" She asked.

"Yes I think we just did." Sam replied. "Never speak of this again?"

"I won't if you won't." Paulina said.

"Deal." Sam agreed. The two girls flipped over, facing away from each other, and in the morning, that civil conversation would be out the window.

* * *

Danny sat at the table, waiting for Emma and Sam, while rubbing his back. Sleeping on the ground hadn't been the best of all experiences, especially when he managed to end up leaning against the door, so when Dash opened it, he hit his head on the floor.

Not the best morning.

Finally, Emma showed up, luckily with a plateful of food. Danny groaned as his stomach growled, he'd forgotten about food in his haste to sit down. Emma smiled and stuck a piece of bacon in his mouth. He chewed and quickly swallowed. "You're welcome." Emma told him, and he smiled.

Then, Sam plunked herself down next to Emma across from Danny. Paulina passed by and glanced over. "Goth freak."

"Prissy princess." Sam jibed back. Paulina growled slightly, then huffed and continued to go sit next to Star, who immediately started rambling on about how her poor cell phone must be so lonely.

"So what's up?" Sam asked. Emma shrugged and handed Danny some more food, which he shoved in his mouth and practically swallowed whole.

"_Argh_, my back hurts!" He complained. "Dash wouldn't let me into the room. _Ouch!_ Next time, I'm sleeping with you!" He directed the last part at Emma, who blushed.

Then Danny blushed, realizing what he just said. Sam grinned in amusement. Emma avoided his eyes. "Umm, if you want, I think I might be able to help with your back a little bit." Emma said.

"Yes, thank you." Danny told her. She stood up and walked over to behind where Danny sat.

"Where does it hurt?" She asked, leaning down to talk to him.

"Mostly my neck and shoulders, I ended up sleeping sitting up last night." Danny told her. She put her hands on his shoulders and rubbed her thumbs deep into his shoulders. "That kind of hurts." He winced slightly.

She laughed. "It's going too, the muscles are tense and sore there." She rubbed around his neck and back to his shoulders. "You _really_ should go see a chiropractor, you are very tense."

"Ghost hunting does that to a guy." Danny joked. "Mmm, that actually feels really nice."

Emma stopped rubbing his shoulders. "Glad you think so." She said, and sat down next to Danny, pulling her plate over to her. "All you need to do now is stretch your arms, shoulders and neck muscles, and they should feel a lot looser. Danny Phantom needs a spa day. A good massage is seriously in order."

Emma ate some of the eggs she grabbed and Danny stole a piece of bacon. "I'll make a note of that." He said, before tearing off a piece of bacon.

* * *

Emma walked into the stable, and approached Desert Rose's stall. Desert Rose came over and stuck her head out and Emma pet her and gave her a carrot. "I don't think that this ghost girl is really going to do anything. I think she's just a harmless spirit that is lost in her afterlife. She won't actually do anything, probably just watch Danny a little bit, I mean; she was in love with him, right?"

"I don't know Emma. This girl seems slightly obsessive. She didn't care if Nightingale and Fast-Shootin' Fenton were in love, she wanted him for her own, and no one else would take him." Sam objected.

"She has a point." Danny said from a few stalls down, where he brushed Shadow's hair.

Sam approach Grim carefully and he turned around and began nibbling at her fingers. Emma handed her a carrot and she fed it to Grim. "Of course I have a point." She said, "This ghost girl probably wants to steal Danny away back in time, to make him duke it out with Nightingale and make him hers."

Emma snorted. "Yeah, right. You make this sound like a stupid story. Think again, chick-Lit. There is nothing really serious going on here." She took a brush and began brushing out knots in Desert Rose's mane.

"Yeah, well, it a better theory than, 'harmless wandering spirit that is looking for love.' You make it sound like a romance novel!" Sam retorted, waving the end of the carrot around annoyed, Grim following it. Sam glanced at Grim, and gave him the rest of the carrot, Grim getting a very pleased look on his face.

Then, Desert Rose stretched her neck over to Grim's stall and neighed something, which Grim passed on to the horse next to him, who stretched over to Shadow, who turned away, practically saying, "I don't wanna hear it."

"Oh, come on Shadow; listen to what they want to say." Danny told his horse. The horse looked at him then sighed in his own horse-y way. He turned his head to listen to the other horse neigh across its neighbor. Then he neighed and the horse nodded.

"I wonder what they're saying." Emma said aloud, brushing Desert Rose's mane again, who looked very pleased with herself.

"Probably something about how we're all morons, like they have a secret code or something." Sam replied amusedly.

"Nah, we're just too evolved!" Danny laughed, and his friends joined him.

"You know those classifieds in the love section of the news paper?" Emma asked.

"Yeah." Sam replied, Danny nodding behind her.

"You know what Sam said before, it kind of sounded like one of those! Couldn't you picture it? Harmless wandering spirit that is looking for love. Call 555- so on and so on." Emma grinned as Danny and Sam laughed.

"You're right, that's pretty funny. Hey, I wonder if they have that kind of thing in the ghost zone." Sam said curiously.

"You know, I've never asked. When we get home, I'm going to find out!" Sam and Emma chuckled at the thought of someone like the Box Ghost doing that.

A girl with red hair and glasses popped her head in the stable, "Hey, we're all heading to the blacksmith's to check out the 'tools of the trade' and stuff. We've all gotta check it out, so come on."

They agreed, said goodbye to their horses and followed a larger group to the blacksmith shop nearby. There was a big black and sooty anvil next to a fire with molten metal in a mold. A large man stood nearby with a huge hammer that could easily take off your head in one foul swoop.

The man walked over to a stool next to the anvil, moved it aside, pulled a red-hot piece of metal out of the fire and started banging on it with the hammer, upon closer inspection it turned out to be an ax head. Sparks flew off the metal when the hammer hit.

"Here's the basics," The man said, when he stopped and replaced the ax head into the fire. "There's the anvil, here's the hammer. There are a couple other things too…."

As the man went on Emma, Danny and Sam started on again about whether that ghost was a problem or not, "Yes, she is! What if she was the one who sent you those images of you with that hole in your head?" Sam said.

"Are you kidding me? That was probably because I was reading Nightingale's diary, that's all!" Emma retorted sharply.

"Guys, we don't know anything about this girl! And unluckily for us, she was the only one of the people smart enough to _not_ keep a journal!" Danny intervened.

"This means she could most likely be evil, and didn't want anyone finding out her secrets." Sam said.

"That is not what I was saying!" Danny told them both with a sigh.

"Hey you! Back there with those girls!" Danny froze at the powerful voice of the blacksmith.

He turned and looked at the man. "Yes?" He asked timidly.

"You aren't paying attentions to what I am saying, are you?" He asked.

"Um…" Danny replied, giving the girls the 'back me up' look which they pointedly ignored.

"Get up here." The man said. Danny hesitated before Emma gave him a little push. Danny stumbled up to the front, tripping as he squeezed out of the edge of the throng of kids and nearly fell face-first into the fire, if the man hadn't grabbed the back of his vest and pulled him up to him.

"You think you are so smart? You think you know how to do this so you don't pay attention to me? Your turn, you show me how it's done!" The man dropped the hammer in Danny's hands, and he buckled under the sudden weight of the thirty-pound hammer.

Danny stood back up and looked at the man. "I don't know-"

"DO IT." The man said firmly, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back, waiting.

"Okay." Danny said, shifting the hammer in his grasp. He took the tongs that were beside the anvil and pulled out the ax head. He placed it on the anvil and, since he couldn't get a very good grip on the handle of the hammer, leaned back slightly and lightly hit it, barely sending any sparks.

"That is wrong. That was weak. You must be _powerful_. Strong against the element of metal! Hit it again. Do it right!" The man said his voice strong and deep.

Danny tightened his hold on the hammer, lifted it above his head and brought it down with a deafening clang. Sparks shot up into the air and faded away. The man walked over to him and clapped a large hand on his shoulder. "Wonderful. Now, you did it right." He grabbed the hammer out of Danny's hands and nudged him back into the crowd.

Emma and Sam were grinning at him when he managed to find them, standing by the edge of the wall with different sized tools hanging on it and a pile of horseshoes next to them and a clear view of the front.

"Great job Danny!" Sam told him with a smile.

"Yeah, those sparks really went up there too!" Emma added.

"Thanks guys!" Danny replied with a smile.

* * *

After half an hour, the small ghost-hunting troupe moved on with their class mates to the general store where Jane talked about the large amount of robberies that took place there.

But one boy in the back of the crowd nobody noticed, and nobody cared that he left, thinking he saw something pass outside the door. He stepped out onto the porch and looked to the side, seeing the edge of a dress disappearing around the corner.

He quickly ran off the porch, following the person.

Rounding the corner, he saw Lunette standing there a little farther in, smiling at him. "Who are you?" He asked.

Lunette just smiled and he walked towards her, entranced. She pulled him in and kissed him. Suddenly, his eyes shot open, glowing white. Lunette released him with a wicked smile.

"Go and wait for my command." The boy turned around and walked back to the general store, leaving Lunette standing in the ally with a plan beginning to come together and disgusted scowl on her face.

* * *

"Ooh! This old cloth would make the _cutest_ shirt!" Star gushed, holding a fragment of the antique, and albeit slightly dusty, cloth.

"Sorry _chica_, but it would look better on me." Paulina said conceitedly.

"It would not! You hate this color!" Star yelled.

"Just because I hate the color, doesn't mean I don't make it look better. I make sacrifices for fashion!" Paulina yelled back, and the two grabbed at the cloth and started tugging at it from either side.

"They do know that just because this is a general store doesn't mean that they can actually buy the stuff in here, right?" Jane asked, coming over.

"Aww, let them fight, It's better than cable." Sam told her cousin.

"Hey, you got any popcorn?" Emma asked.

They watched the two girls tug-of-war over the ancient cloth, until Paulina let go, crying out, "Oh no! I broke a nail!"

Star quickly ran over, and they examined Paulina's hand. "Oh, I'm so sorry! When we get out of here, I'll take to the salon for an all out Mani-Pedi, my treat!" With that the two girls hugged.

"Aww, they come together for a tragedy!" Sam said in a sarcastic tone. Emma and Jane chuckled, Danny having wandered away after muttering, "Tell me who wins." He was now examining the gun display with a couple other guys, where there were rifles and pistols to ogle over.

"Okay everyone! Shows over! Time to move on!" After everyone left, including Sam, who was last seen chatting animatedly to Jane, Emma went to Danny and tugged on his arm.

"It's time to go Gunslinger Boy!" Emma said teasingly.

"Aww, but they're so pretty!" Danny said childishly, pressing his face to the glass.

"Come on!" Emma said with a smile, tugging him away from the display of potentially deadly weapons.

They got outside and saw that their class had gotten very far ahead of them. "Let's take this shortcut!" Emma said, pulling Danny's arm, leading him through the gap between the two buildings.

Then suddenly, one of the boys from their class jumped down from the roof of the building to their right, eyes and hands glowing white.

He lunged for Emma and Danny pulled her out of the way.

"It seems that this week keeps getting more and more complicated." Emma sighed.

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry this took forever, but I write these things at night, so I type really slowly, and then set my time for sleep at 3:30 AM, so yeah. Thanks to all the people who have reviewed, and to all the people who love this story! Thanks! -Mimm


	5. Complications

**Disclaimer:** Danny Phantom may be owned by Butch Hartman, but when I take over the world, he'll be mine! _**All Mine!!!! Muahahahahahahaha!**_ *coughs* Sorry.

**Sam: **Tucker, don't shoot at the snakes! Shoot at the ten-headed fire breathing monster!

**Tucker: **You fight your phobia, and I'll fight mine!

**Sam:** If that were my phobia, it would be a fifty-foot-tall cheerleader.

* * *

**Complications**

Emma frowned and black fire began spreading over her body, transforming her dress into a red shirt with elbow-length sleeves, red pants and red sneakers, her eyes and hair turning black, hands glowing with black energy.

"Emma, you can't hurt him!" Danny said, putting his hand on her arm.

The boy attacked with his hands glowing white and Emma dodged, pulling away from Danny. "Of course I won't Danny!" She replied.

The boy tried hitting Emma from the right, then the left, but Emma just blocked his blows. He kicked at her head, and she crouched down.

She lunged at the boy, hitting him in the stomach with a black energy enhanced fist, sending a white energy shooting out of him. The energy took the form of a white ball, floating in the air. The boy collapsed in Emma's arms, and she rested him against the wall as the ball began flying away.

"Follow that orb!" She yelled, pointing at the ball, Danny transforming and following Emma into the sky.

They chased after the orb, before it made a sharp U-turn and began flying into the sun, so when Danny and Emma turned around, they couldn't find it, lost in the glare.

"Damn…" Emma muttered and the two ghosts lowered to the ground. "That orb could have led us to Lunette."

"So much for her not being a problem." Danny said, checking around before transforming back, Emma joining him with a sigh.

* * *

"Say it again."

"You were right and I was wrong." Emma told Sam for the tenth time.

"My turn: I told you so!" Sam grinned in triumph.

"Enough. Time to get serious. This ghost girl has enough power to control people from a distance, like with a long-range remote control." Emma said.

"Crazy." Sam said unenthusiastically. "So she could be controlling Paulina right now?" Sam glanced over at the popular girl fixing her hair in the mirror, then picking up a box, her hands slipping, and dropping it on her foot, crying out in pain.

"On second thought, there isn't enough brain to control."

"Sam, this is serious." Danny told her.

"I know." Sam said, crossing her arms. "But really, we have no way to get to her or to find her, and it would be best to wait for her to come to us. And we still have no information on her!"

Emma coughed and gestured around. "We are in the _Records Hall_ Sam. We could look her up right now."

Sam blushed, and Danny picked up an old box labeled _G_. "Well we ought to get started."

* * *

"I got it!" Danny yelled, lifting up a folder of paper.

"Sweet, let me see." Emma said putting down a folder labeled Henry Georges, and crawling over awkwardly in her dress, Sam joining them.

"Full name, Birth, Death, relatives, medical records… There isn't much here. If knowing that she broke her leg when she was eight is important, than we found the jackpot." Danny sighed, putting down the small amount of twine-bound papers.

Emma looked at the folder and picked it up, flipping over a few pages. She read to herself, occasionally mouthing certain words in surprise. "Guys," She said, shocked. They looked over. "Lunette was a sociopath."

"So she was literally crazy." Danny said. "Great, now we're dealing with a _crazy_ ghost girl."

"Where does it say she was a sociopath?" Sam asked, peering over her shoulder.

"It doesn't, it lists strange behaviors, actions, and occurrences that went on around her." Emma said. "I just recognized it from something else I'd seen that was similar."

"Isn't sociopathy impossible to detect in kids? Or that they don't count it in kids or something?" Danny asked.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Emma asked.

"Jazz. She's into psychology, remember?" Danny replied.

"Right, if only we had our phones, then we could call Jazz." Emma said.

"And what would she be able to do? We're a hundred, undoubtedly more, miles away!" Sam asked.

"I don't know!" Emma retorted. "But it's better than sitting here on our butts."

"Ugh." Danny said, rubbing his head. "What is in the file about her being sociopathic."

"Well, I kind of guessed after the one about how she killed a horse with her father's rifle after he said she couldn't have it." Emma told him.

"Yeesh. That is crazy." Danny said, combing a hand through his hair.

"She seriously needed to learn to live and let go." Sam commented.

"Obviously, this is why she refused to give up on Daniel. And why she sent a rabid teenager after me." Emma said, thoughtful.

"Woah, wait, what? When did this happen?" Sam asked.

"I'll tell you later." Danny told his friend. "But right now, we need to worry about Lunette the sociopathic homicidal ghost."

"Yeah, but there's no way to find this chick, and it's apparent that she wants me dead. Or, at least horribly injured." Emma told him.

"I won't let her hurt you." Danny told Emma, a serious look on his face.

Emma took his hand, a gentle smile gracing her features, "I know you won't."

Sam's gaze wandered around the room, when she spotted the box labeled

_V._ "You know, I wonder what our files would say." She stood up, going over to the box and began sifting through the files.

"What do you mean?" Emma asked, kneeling on the ground, picking up the _G_ files and putting them back in the box.

"I know they're not really _our_ files, but our ancestors, they might have something to tell us about this girl." Sam told them.

"Some of ours more than others." Danny commented.

Sam continued reading the names on a couple files. "Aha!" She pulled out a file and dusted it off. "Gwendolyn Viper."

Danny lifted the _G_ box and put it back on top of a table, pulling off the _F_ box. Emma looked around and spotted the _T_ box. She ran over and began looking through the files, quickly finding hers. "Nightingale, tell us your story." She muttered to herself, opening the folder.

Danny pulled out his file. _You really left us one big mess to clean up, Fenton._ He thought. He sighed and flipped to the first page.

* * *

"Nothing!" Danny cried out in exasperation, raising his arms above his head. "I can't believe we found nothing!" Danny slumped in his seat and poked at the food on the plate before him.

"But we did! We found out she was a sociopath." Emma said optimistically, taking a bite out of her lunch.

"Yeah, but that only confirmed what we already knew: this girl is a whack-job. And how does that help us anyway? We can't just go up to her, hand her a bottle of pills and say, 'Take two in the morning and evening and you'll start to act normal.'" Sam told her pessimistically.

"Ghosts can't take medicine, it doesn't work on them." Danny said down-heartedly.

"Ugh, you guys are really laying on the depression." Emma said, leaning back. "This ghost girl is an ICD F10 sociopath! We honestly need to get our butts in gear!"

"Wait, what now?" Sam asked.

"The WHO, World Health Organization, set up the International Classification of Diseases. Aka, the ICD. The mental and behavioral health is split into 10 sections. She is an F10." Emma explained.

"Dissocial Personality Disorder?" Danny asked.

"You betcha." Emma said.

"This is crazy." Sam told no one in particular. Emma and Danny looked at her. "No pun intended."

"That's it!" Emma yelled frustrated, slamming her hands on the table, her friends flinching. "I know what's going to cheer you guys up."

Sam and Danny shared a look.

* * *

The three teenagers rode out of the stable on their horses. "Come on!" Emma yelled, and gave Desert Rose a kick, and they sped off, Sam and Danny copying her and speeding off after her, out of the town and through the plains. A long ways away, Emma stopped and waited for her friends to catch up.

Danny and Sam trotted up, grins on their faces. "Okay, _that_ was fun." Sam said matter-of-factly.

"Oh, yeah." Danny leaned back in his saddle and took a couple of deep breaths.

"Horses go fast, Danny, you should know that by now." Sam said, and Danny got his horse to trot over and attempted to punch Sam's shoulder, but her horse trotted away, Sam laughing as her friend nearly fell off his saddle.

Emma laughed, and Desert Rose trotted around them in a circle, Emma happy that before they'd gone she'd changed out of her dress into the boots, jeans and shirt. He situated the hat on her head to block out the sun that bore down on them, Danny doing the same.

"Told you you'd feel better." Emma told them with a smile.

"Well, some of us might get a heat stroke." Sam said, holding her hand up to block the sun from her face.

"Here." Danny said, and used his hands to send a chilly mist over to Sam, who sighed.

"Ahh, the benefits of having a friend with ice powers." Sam said.

"As for the ones with hats, we shall survive." Emma said, watching the mist swirl around Sam.

Emma looked over at the town, which looked many yards off and saw a man sitting on a horse waving to them. "Guys, look." She told them, pointing.

Sam put a hand above her eyes to block the glare of the sun. "I think its Uncle Henry." Sam said.

"Let's go." Danny replied, and he kicked Shadow into a run and Emma joined him on his right quickly, Sam on his left soon after. As they neared, Henry trotted over to meet them as they slowed to a walk.

"Nice to see you're havin' fun riding your horses, but would you mind bringing them over to the other side of the town where the pen is? We're going to be using them for a demonstration." Henry asked.

"Sure." Danny agreed, Emma nodding beside him.

Sam started off, the other two following her, and Henry rode into the town, bringing his horse back to the stable.

"What do you think this demonstration is?" Emma asked.

"Who knows?" Danny replied as they neared the pen. Sam got off Grim and opened the gate, leading her horse inside. Danny didn't get off, but looked around. "Nobody's here." He said, suspicion creeping up on him like a cat.

Suddenly, there was a bang back in the town. Emma and Danny looked at each other, eyes wide. They kicked their horses and sped into town, leaving Sam at the pen. They reached the center of town, jumping off their horses and standing in the center of town as their horses raced on each side of the street to the stable to wait.

There, standing across from them in a row, were six boys, dressed in black, their classmates sheltered on the porches and in the windows of the buildings. "Great. The posse is back." Emma muttered. She pulled out her gun from the holster on her right hip. "Let's get this show started!" She yelled as Danny pulled out one of his guns.

The boys drew their guns and started shooting at them, Emma and Danny dodging lithely, the boys moving to dodge the shots that were being given. Emma rolled to dodge a shot from one of them, and shot the boy. Instead of staying in his place in the dirt, he stood back up, as did Emma, aimed, and shot, Emma twisting and watching the bullet fly by her eyes in slow motion.

Her eyes widened and she turned to Danny, "The bullets are real!"

He looked and dodged a bullet last minute. Then he looked at the boy across from him. The boy's eyes were a washed out color, like they had a film of white covering them. All of the boys' eyes were this way. "It's Lunette! She's controlling them!"

Emma ran at one boy and as he stuck out his arm to shoot her, she grabbed his gun and his arm and flipped him over, grabbing the gun and throwing it away. She looked over at another boy, and dodged his bullet. Danny shot at him from a little ways away, even though his bullets had almost no effect.

He watched as the boy Emma knocked down stood up and pulled out another gun. Her attack had been in vain. Emma ran over to Danny. She pointed to the boys. "Their guns only hold six cartridges, but they keep on shooting."

"Lunette must be doing something so that they don't run out of bullets." Danny told her. They were both panting, quickly running out of energy.

Then Emma turned her eye to one of the boys. He turned and aimed his gun at the people on the porch. "_NO!_" Emma yelled, running forward and grabbing his gun, kicking him in the stomach with a black energy-enhanced foot. A flash of white, and then he went flying back into a porch post, slumping down unconscious.

She tucked his firearm under her belt. Two of the boys turned on her, and she saw that she could only dodge one bullet, and either way, there were terrified innocents behind her. The boys shot, and she moved, one of the bullets hitting her in the side. She grabbed her side in pain, gritting her teeth. She looked at her hand, now turned red.

"Emma!" Danny yelled as he dodged, stopping to shoot at the two boys, giving himself the time to run towards her.

"No! Danny, stay there!" She yelled, putting out one bloody hand, as the boys in front of her were about to shoot again. She fell to her knees and pulled out her gun. She shot them with black energy enhanced bullets, and when they hit, there was a small shock of black, and the flash of white, and the boys fell down, unconscious.

Emma took the moment to reach inside her shirt and heal her, barely getting anywhere. She stood up and ran to Danny, slower in her pain of the gunshot. She managed to dodge a couple of the bullets as she moved, reaching Danny, she rested slightly, putting some of her weight on his shoulder. They were already tired, it didn't help she'd been shot.

He pulled the other boy's gun out from under Emma's belt, flipped open the cylinder and saw that there were glowing white bullets inside. _Great_, He thought, dropping the gun on the ground and pulling out his own, pulling Emma aside just in time for a bullet to zip past them.

"Ow…" Emma moaned slightly.

"Sorry." He whispered back.

"_Shoot them…_" She whispered breathlessly. "_Shoot them…"_ He lifted his gun, and shot at one of the advancing boys, and the black energy bullets shot out and hit him, the flash of light and unconsciousness, barely in time for Danny to dodge the bullet of the next to last boy. Emma groaned slightly and lifted her gun and shot at one of the boys, her vision blurry from pain. She managed to squint through the fog and hit the boy in the stomach. The flash covered her eye sight and she couldn't even watch as he fell to the ground.

"_One more…"_ She reminded herself. _"One more…"_

Danny lifted his gun, his arm now wrapped around Emma, who seemed to be almost entirely unconscious. _Just keep shooting, _He thought, and shot his last bullet and Emma put the last of her energy into it, and the boy fell to the ground in a flash of light.

_We won…_ Emma thought_, We won…_ the corner of her mouth twitched into what was left of a smile and she let her mind close down, Danny's voice sounding so distant as he called to her before she was swallowed by blackness.

* * *

As Sam looked over at Danny calling to Emma, she closed her eyes and looked away, turning to the building across from her. She opened her eyes and saw, up in one of the upper level windows of the building, was Lunette, smiling down at the scene before her. Sam growled and ran off the porch, across the street, inside the building and up the stairs. She slammed open the door to the room and Lunette turned and looked at her.

"_You killed my friend!!!" _She yelled at the girl._ "You killed her!"_

She smiled remorselessly. She lifted a gun and shot, Sam dodging to one side. She growled and ran at the ghost girl, pushing her out the closed window, shattered glass flying everywhere. Then, everything went in reverse; the window coming back, all the little shards going back into place and even the sound of the glass shattering was played backwards.

Everything was back to the way it was, but Lunette was gone.

* * *

_Emma opened her eyes to blackness. She lay on blackness, floating in nothing. Then, above her, like ripples in water, an image appeared. It was her reflection. __**"Who are you?"**__ She asked._

_Her reflection and her self switched points of view, looking over rather than under. __**"I am what would be considered Lunette's 'problem'."**__ The reflection told her._

"_**Lunette killed me, didn't she?"**__ Emma asked, looking sad, the image repeating everything she did._

"_**No. You're just unconscious."**__ The reflection told her reassuringly. __**"There are things you have to take care of still."**_

_Emma shook her head confusedly and the reflection did the same. __**"What is going on outside? Why is Lunette doing this?"**_

"_**You know why, Emma."**__ The reflection replied. __**"Lunette has no remorse, she has no guilt for taking what isn't hers, whether an object, or a life."**_

"_**I need to know more! There has to be more!"**__ Emma cried out._

"_**It's time to wake up now Emma."**__ The reflection said, fading away._

"_**Wait! I need more information!"**__ She yelled, but all the reflection said was, __**"It's time to wake up now. It's time to wake up……"**_

* * *

Emma opened her eyes with a gasp. She looked up at the ceiling, picking out the wooden panels. She sat up, looking around at her room. She was sitting in her bed, and she shifted in the nightdress she was wearing.

Danny sat next to her in a chair. He looked up when she sat up then leaned over and hugged her tightly. She wrapped her arms around him tightly. "I thought I'd lost you for a while there." He whispered in her ear.

"What's happened?" Emma asked softly, not wanting to let him go, but she did.

He leaned back in the chair, which she realized had been taken from her desk, "The students still think it was all set up, Henry and Jane thought you passed out from exhaustion, and by the time we got to the bullet hole in your side, it was gone. You've been asleep for a long time. It feels like midnight. I stayed here because I didn't want you to be alone when you woke up."

Emma smiled at him and leaned over and wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. "Thank you." She whispered against his lips.

"You're welcome." He whispered back with a smile.

"Come on, you're tired." She said scooting over.

"No, I couldn't. Either way, I took the key to my room so that Dash couldn't lock me out." Danny told her with a small blush.

"Are you sure?" Emma asked, tilting her head to one side, observing him. His white shirt had become stained with blood when he had held her earlier; his blue eyes were tired but worried. He nodded and leaned forward and gave her a little kiss. "Go." Emma said to him with a smile. He got up and turned, walking out of the room.

Emma leaned back on the pillows; arms tucked behind her head and closed her eyes. He paused at the doorway, one hand on the frame. He looked back at her, then turned back and left, closing the door behind him.

* * *

Danny walked into his room; the door had been surprisingly unlocked, Dash was lying on his bed, turned towards the wall. Danny closed the door behind him softly, before walking into the room and stripping off the bloodied vest and shirt. He gripped them loosely, slipping through his fingers and onto the ground, forgotten as soon as they left him in the darkness.

He walked over to one of the two wash basin in the room. He poured a small amount of water into the basin and washed the blood off his side. There was a cloth used for drying, and he wet one of the corners and used it to clean off the dried red liquid.

After the blood was gone, he used the other side to dry off, and wandered over to his bed. He sat down and pulled off his boots, not bothering to put on his shirt to sleep. He lay down and looked at the ceiling, his hands resting on his stomach.

"Is your girlfriend okay, Fenton?" He jumped slightly at Dash's voice. He looked over at Dash, who'd turned over to look at Danny. There was a thin layer of sincere concern coating his voice.

"Yeah, she is." Danny told him, putting his arms behind his head.

"Good," There was a pause, a strange-feeling silence. "Honest to God, I thought she was dead for a moment there." Dash said, an inkling of amusement trickling into his voice.

"Yeah, so did I…" Danny replied quietly. The conversation went out like a candle after that, the silence slightly strangled, and Dash turned back to the wall cutting off further communication.

With nothing else to do but think, Danny closed his eyes and fell asleep.

* * *

Emma sat up in her bed, her side burning in pain. She grabbed at her side, gritting her teeth and occasionally whimpering. She stood up, going over to the mirror and the wash basin shakily. She pulled off her nightdress, and looked at her side.

A fleshy hole had opened, and blood was seeping out, a slow and steady stream down her side. There was something moving inside, as if crawling out of the hole. Then, the bullet inched its way out of her side, falling to the ground.

The hole bled a little more and then closed, the flesh coming back together. Emma took a couple of deep breaths, the pain fading away. She cleaned off the blood in the wash basin and changed her underwear, now with a streak of red down its side, and put the nightdress back on.

She looked over at the bullet, now sitting in a small puddle of blood. She bent down and picked it up, wiping off a little bit of the blood. She walked over and put it on the desk, a reminder that what was going on was serious and deadly.

Emma then turned back, and cleaned up the little bit of blood that was on the floor before it would noticeably stain the wood. She looked out the window, the sky becoming a light grey as the sun began to rise, the moon, which would soon be setting, sitting gently upon the horizon.

The beginnings of a new day, lighting the room slightly, she made her way back to her bed, hoping to catch another couple of hours of sleep. She lay down and pulled the covers up over her head to block out the light.

* * *

_Danny looked at his reflection once again. It frowned. It reached out and grabbed him by his shirt collar, pushing him to the ground. It stood over him and said, __**"You will protect her!"**_

_Danny looked up at himself, confused. __**"What? I thought I wasn't supposed to trust her!"**_

_His reflection grabbed him roughly by the arm and pulled him off the ground. It gave him a rough shake then turned him to the side, where he watched as he called out to Emma as he held her in his arms. He remembered the fear that went along with that moment, the thought that she was gone._

_His reflection gave him another shake, __**"You will protect her!"**__ His reflection told him roughly, almost angrily._

_Then, its face became sad, and its grip became weaker. __**"Please, protect her…"**_

* * *

Emma sat up in bed with a small huff, unable to get back to sleep. She threw off the covers and stood, going over and changing into her dress. She grabbed her two guns, and the small bag holding the fake bullets that attatched to the belt. She barely missed the bloody shirt that hung on her bed post.

She paused, then turned to it and picked it up. It was hers, and there was a rip where the bullet had hit her, a large amount of blood staining the area. She took the shirt and put her hand over the ripped area. Wondering if it would work, her hand glowed a bit, and when she removed it the rip was gone.

"Cool…" she muttered to herself with a smile, then she put the shirt back down and glanced at the bullet resting on the desk. She frowned, then went to the desk and grabbed Nightingale's diary. Emma quickly turned and left, locking her door behind her.

* * *

Emma sat back in an old chair she'd found in the stable, with her feet up on a small barrel of water. Eight-Thirty and people would start getting up in an half-hour for breakfast. She continued reading the red bound diary, turning the page with her thumb as she stuck out one of her guns and shot at a dirty glass bottle, hitting it square on.

It tipped over slightly, and then it tipped back, staying standing up. Emma glared at it out of the corner of her eye. _At least I don't have to go pick it up._ She thought and sighed. She lifted her gun again, shooting at the bottles she'd set up at various areas, this time hitting a bottle high up on a rafter. It came tumbling down, but didn't break when it hit the ground.

She'd been doing this for about an hour, and for some reason, it was not getting boring. She lifted her gun and aimed for a bottle sitting on the railing of a back porch.

* * *

_Bang!_

Danny blinked, waking from a deep sleep. He sat up, taking in the room through sleep-laden eyes. The sun shone through the window, lightly hitting the floor. He could almost picture a cat, curled up in the warm light.

He rubbed his eyes multiple times as he stood up and wandered over to the wash basin. He poured clean water into it and splashed his face, using a clean cloth to dry off the water. He leaned on his arms, holding each side of the wash basin's top.

He looked at himself in the mirror, and saw the room looked different, Dash was gone, the second wash basin was gone, even the other bed was gone. Danny blinked, and the image disappeared. Shrugging it off as morning mind-fog, he went over to the dresser and searched for another shirt to wear.

He pulled out a white one, identical to the one from yesterday. Reminded of it, he looked around, but it was gone. _Strange…_ He thought, before changing his jeans and putting on the vest and boots. He buckled the gun holsters into place and walked out, to go search out the bang he'd heard earlier.

* * *

Emma heard someone walking towards her and pointed her gun in their direction before putting down the diary. Then she saw it was just Danny, who had his hands up and a smile on his face. "I surrender."

Emma smiled and lowered the gun. He walked over and Emma put down her feet. "What're you doing?" He asked, looking around at the bottles.

"Target practice." Emma replied. "Getting shot won't ruin my aim." She winked at him, then turned and shot a bottle from thirty paces away. It landed in the dirt with a dull clunk.

"I want to try." Danny said, pulling out his gun. He aimed and shot one of the forty paces bottles.

"Cool." Emma told him, and turned and shot a bottle on the top of a roof. There was a loud clunk and a frightened yell from inside the building. Emma and Danny looked at each other. "Breakfast?" Emma asked.

"Breakfast." Danny agreed, and the two gathered up the diary and the other guns and bullets and ran towards the Saloon away from the scene of the crime.

* * *

**A/N:** I worked really hard on this chapter, I love this chapter, and I love reviewers and my adoring fans! (LOL) Please keep reading, this just keeps getting better and better!


	6. Mine! All Mine!

_**Disclaimer:**_ Me no own Danny Phantom or Nickelodeon, you got that? Good.

**Tucker: **A ghost kid with tan lines. Who knew?

* * *

**Mine! All Mine!**

Danny and Emma stopped running when they reached the porch of the Saloon. They put their hands on their knees, panting. They paused for a moment, and then began laughing. "Oh, man, that was fun." Danny said, sitting on the steps of the porch.

Emma grinned. "We probably would have gotten in trouble if we got caught." She plopped down beside him. "But that was so worth it."

"Who do you think it was?" Danny asked, leaning back on his elbows.

"Sounded like Lancer." Emma told him, taking back her guns and bullets.

"We would have been in _huge_ trouble." Danny laughed. "Oh, you wouldn't happen to know where my shirt went. I figured maybe you took it to get it cleaned of something. It was missing when I got up."

"No, mine was still there when I got up. There are people who come around and pick up the dirty clothes. I heard them outside my door one morning." Emma replied, standing up. "Let's go inside, see if any of the food is ready yet."

Danny agreed and they went into the Saloon, and the smell of food cooking wafted over them. They glanced at one another and grinned.

"_Food_…"

* * *

Emma and Danny were there when people started drifting in with plates of eggs and bacon and a small stack of toast. Dash entered and stole a couple of pieces of toast. "Dash!" Danny glared at him and attempted at make a swipe at the food.

Dash just dodged, laughed and walked away. Emma handed Danny her piece of toast. "This is just like college, isn't it?" He asked sullenly. "I never had to deal with this before." He took a bite of the toast.

"It's not so bad! You've still got me!" She winked at him and he smiled. "And at least in college you won't have to deal with a psychopathic ghost girl."

"You mean you?" Sam asked sarcastically as she sat down next to them.

"Oh, so funny." Emma countered and the two girls grinned. Sam grabbed Emma's most recent piece of toast right as Emma was about to eat it and took a big bite out of it, holding it casually.

"So, you know what's going on today?" Sam asked, ignoring Emma's glower as she took another piece of toast. Paulina slipped by and grabbed the toast, walking off with it.

"GRR!!!" Emma yelled. "Everyone is stealing the toast!"

Danny looked at Emma then said, "No, we don't know. Why?"

"Uncle Henry told me he had a special announcement to make, and I was just wondering what it could be." Sam replied casually.

"Maybe we're leaving early." Danny joked, poking the eggs on his plate until the yokes popped and the toast on his plate soaked them up.

"I wish." Sam sighed, taking another bite out of toast.

Then, there was a yell over the morning crowd of teens. "May I have your attention please?" They turned to the stage, where Henry stood, the crowd silencing, half praying to go home. "Thank you. Now, I just wanted to tell you that today we have a special activity. All day, we will be traveling through the mine!"

There was a wave of sound as the teenagers all began talking to their friends at once. "I ain't done! It would be a good idea to grab one of the bags that are sitting on the table over there. They contain the lunches, since we won't be coming back til dinner." Henry pointed out the table, and quickly, Emma ran over to the table, grabbing three bags and hurrying back.

Dash got up and walked over as well, grabbing and tossing them over to his football pals, who hooted and hollered their thanks. Paulina, Star, Mikey, and the rest began to go and grab the antique bags full of food.

Danny opened his bag and looked inside. There was a sizeable amount of food apparently, because he seemed pleased. "At least we won't starve." Then, Danny took out his guns, flipping open the cylinders and filling the slots with bullets. Emma watched questioningly. He caught her eye. "Hey, if we run into more mind-controlled classmates, this thing seemed to be able to hold them off well enough."

Emma shrugged. "I guess I'll bring mine too, but I don't think I'll have time to change from my dress to the jeans." She pulled out her guns as well, flipping them open and loading them. She flipped the cylinder closed with a click and shook the bullet bag, the bullets clinking together. "Should be enough, but if I have to use any, by the time the day's done, I'll be asking for more."

"Good." Danny said, checking his bullet bag as well. "I have more than you, so if it comes down to it, I'll split them with you."

"This reminds me of that movie, oh what was it called?" Sam racked her brain, "I can't remember, but they were zombie hunters or something, and they were checking their ammo, and they were splitting rations, and then they were all, 'Let's head out!'"

"Oh, I remember that, it was on channel one-eighty two weeks ago, wasn't it?" Emma said with a grin.

"Yeah!" Sam smiled, excited.

"Girls and their horror movies…" Danny sighed, shaking his head.

Emma grinned. "You know, there's only one way to travel to the mine quick enough."

Danny's face brightened considerably. "That means…"

* * *

Danny sat atop Shadow as he trotted up beside Emma and Sam, who were currently debating which horror movie creature was the scariest.

"Reevers." Emma said matter-of-factly. "Those things are scary as anything, man. Especially what they do to you."

"No way. Aliens. Especially the queen alien. They are the king of scary horror movie monsters." Sam replied.

"You mean queen."

"Whatever."

"Oh, even better, the creatures from _I Am Legend_." Emma said.

"Death from _Final Destination_."

"Freddy Krougar."

"Jason kicks his ass."

"Shut up. Gargoyles."

"You kidding me? The kid from _The Unborn_."

Emma paused, thinking. "_The Haunting in Connecticut_."

"Ah, it has to be a creature." Sam pointed out smugly.

Emma frowned, "Umm… Charlie from _Hide and Seek_."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Pathetic. The lady from _Unrest_."

"The guy from _Penny Dreadful_."

"The Jackal from _Thirteen Ghosts_."

Danny stepped in, "Hannibal Lector from _Silence of the Lambs_."

Emma and Sam glanced at each other and then turned to him. "You win."

Danny grinned, and then turned to look at the small mountain that they were circling around. A large amount of rock casting shadows on the ground. _I wonder how deep this mine goes. Probably not far, they didn't have any machines to work it._

The group slowed and stopped outside the mine opening. Inside it was very dark and uninviting. Danny trotted up next to it and called inside. It echoed and echoed for a while. _But they sure had a lot of time…_

They dismounted their horses and brought them inside a pen a little ways away from the opening that way they could wander around while their riders were inside. The trio and their class stood outside the dark opening. Henry went inside the gaping hole of a mine and emerged with a bunch of oil lamps.

He handed them out to a bunch of the teens, "These are so we can see and not fall down any mine shafts. People with lamps, don't bunch together, spread out so that more light is everywhere." He handed a lamp to Sam. "Be careful." Sam nodded.

"Come on, let's go inside!" Henry yelled out, lighting his lamp and heading into the darkness, the others following.

* * *

After an hour of walking, a pocket of rock that they couldn't find their way out of for fifteen minutes, and a couple of cool rock formations later, the group was getting slightly bored. Sam sighed, and turned to Emma, who was twirling her gun around her finger in an extreme case of boredom.

"Hey, can I see that?" Sam asked, gesturing to Emma's gun. Emma shrugged and handed it over. The last ones in the back of the group, they were almost alone, nobody wanting to get lost. Sam looked at the gun, turning it over. "This things pretty cool." She said, and then gave it a little one-handed toss. Her hand slipped and the gun discharged, sending a bullet flying into one of the really old wood support beams, splintering it.

Then, under the weight of the rock above it, the beam snapped and large rocks came tumbling down, rumbling loudly in the avalanche of small boulders and rocks, the trio falling backwards, out of the way of the collapsing ceiling. There were a couple screams, a crash, and darkness.

They waved away the choking rock dust, coughing loudly. They opened their eyes when the dust settled, but could see nothing. They were separated from the rest of the group.

After their nerves were calmed down considerably, they heard Henry's voice from up above them, yelling through a small glowing gap that there was no chance of getting through. "Are you guys okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, we're fine. Is anyone hurt?" Danny replied, standing up and brushing himself off, then tripping over Emma when he attempted to find her.

"No, no one's hurt." Henry told him, "But we won't be going back out this way. We'll have to find one of the other mine exits."

"We'll meet you outside." Emma said as Danny pulled her up beside him.

San began feeling around on her hands and knees near the edge of the rock pile, pulling out Emma's gun triumphantly. "I thought I told you to be careful Sam!" Henry yelled.

"Sorry." Sam yelled back, standing up and walking back to where she thought Emma and Danny were standing, crunching over a bit of glass shards. "I dropped the lamp and it broke." She informed them.

"I saw a separate path about thirty feet back going in a different direction." Emma called up to Henry, clutching Danny's arm.

"That's unexplored territory, not even an actual mine, just a cave, we're not sure if it's safe yet!" Henry called back.

"That's our only hope of getting out of here without falling down a shaft!" Danny told him.

Henry was silent a moment. "Be careful! And I mean it this time Sam!"

"I know!" Sam called back, now having made her way to her friends, she grabbed hold of Emma's arm, feeling very lost in the blackness.

Sam handed the gun to Emma, who tucked it away under Danny's belt since she didn't have the holster. Emma tugged on Danny's arm, and he called up, "We're gonna get going."

"Okay." Henry called back, and they heard him slide cautiously down the other side. Now feeling very alone as the light faded away, the group hardly wanted to stay still, so they made a chain of hands, Emma attempting to light the way with her black flames, but getting nowhere, just lighting the darkness with more darkness.

They stumbled through the blackness, following the dirty wall back the thirty feet, Sam freaking out a moment when a rock caught on her dress sleeve. Emma led them around the sharp corner held up by a single rotting old wooden post. The floor became rockier and unsteady. Then they began to feel the floor shaking slightly then suddenly there was a loud crack as the support beam broke and more rocks began to fall behind them. _"RUN!!"_ Danny yelled, and they ran as fast as they could through the darkness, away from the steadily collapsing ceiling that followed them.

Then, Sam tripped over the hem of her dress, Danny turning back to help his friend up, they ran as fast as they could before the rocks stopped falling, a whoosh of air knocking them all forward. A large dust cloud settled over them as they coughed through the dirt.

Emma stood first, knocking off the dust and shaking her head. "Ugh. I hope they have hot water, `cause we are going to need a really long bath."

Sam rose shakily, "Yeah, these clothes have seen better days, and they're over a hundred years old."

Danny stood as well. He wandered around, trying to find one of the two girls. Quickly getting annoyed, he growled, his eyes glowing green, lighting up the area temporarily. "Wait, that's it!" Danny exclaimed, and suddenly the cave was filled with a bright green glow. He held up his glowing hand and looked at the blocked up pathway. _I can't imagine getting buried underneath that… _He thought, kicking a small rock with his boot. _If you weren't crushed, you slowly suffocate… Yeesh. Not a pretty way to go._

Emma made her way over to Danny and Sam quickly followed after looking into the blackness in the other direction. Emma took Danny's hand and gave it a squeeze. He turned to look at her. "We're gonna make it out of here." She told him.

He just looked back at the pile of rubble blocking their way out. "For some reason, I kind of doubt that…"

* * *

Danny trudged ahead of the two females when he tripped over something, the green light going out instantaneously, before flashing back on, Danny sitting up on the ground. "What-?" He looked over and saw a skeleton, jaw hanging open lopsidedly, looking at him with dusty, empty sockets, its arm looking as if it was reaching towards him in a last ditch effort for help to survive.

Danny gave a yell, scrambling back, away from the skeleton. Emma stepped forward inspecting the skeleton's dust coated clothes, a blue shirt and dark jeans, brown ornate cowboy boots that matched his belt. "When your boots match your belt, you know you've got something going for you." Emma joked.

She looked at the kerchief tied around his neck, the hat that was lopsided, hanging off his head and the belt buckle with a buffalo on it. She reached forward and pulled one of the guns out of its holster. She examined the 1875 double action Colt and muttered, "Looks like I found Henry Georges."

"What?" Sam asked, walking closer. Emma held out the gun, pointing to the dust-filled HG engraving on the side.

"It's Henry Georges. He went MIA even before Fast-Shootin' Fenton did. Though I doubt we'll find him down here." Emma told them. Danny joined the two, crouching beside the slightly yellowed skeleton as Emma flipped open the cylinder. There was one round missing. "I wonder why only one round is gone."

"His jaw was broken, you see that?" Danny said, pointing to the skeleton's head.

"Careful, or he'll bite you." Emma joked, but still Danny whipped his hand away.

"We don't have tome to play Clue right now guys, we can tell my Uncle Henry about our little friend here when we get out of here if we don't want to end up like him." Sam told them, pulling Danny up by the shoulder.

"She's right, we need to get moving." Danny said. Emma tucked the gun into the holster and stood back up. She nodded, and they continued on.

Fifteen minutes later, Emma said, "You know, if we die down here, and we turn into skeletons they would probably think that we were from the 1880's too."

There was a round of nervous laughter, before they continued trudging along in silence.

* * *

It had felt like hours. The darkness that threatened to consume them was suffocating. They had tripped so many times that they felt like their hands were raw. They found numerous other skeletons, but none were human. They felt like dropping dead then and there and it felt like something was trying to rip out of their stomachs they were so hungry, and with their energy fading, they could use something to eat.

Emma stopped walking and fell backward onto the floor. "That's it, I'm eating my food." Emma said, pulling out her bag and dumping the contents onto her lap. She unwrapped some food and started nibbling on the cornbread.

Danny flopped down beside her and held out his hand for a little food. Emma sent him an irritated glare. "You expect to take my food now, I don't think so! You have your own!"

Danny frowned and yelled back, "I was thinking that we could each eat a little bit at a time, that way it would last! We don't know how long we'll be in here!"

"Well, why didn't you just say so? Here!" She tossed a chunk of cornbread his way and he scrambled to catch it. "Chasing after it like a freaking hyena." She muttered loudly.

"I was not!" He yelled at her, face growing dark, the green glow of his hand flaring.

"GUYS, guys! Please! We haven't been in here a day and we're already turning on each other!" Sam yelled, the two angry ghost teens turning to her. "We need to keep it together if we're gonna get out of here alive."

Emma and Danny looked at each other sadly, "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to snap at you like that. And I _really_ didn't mean it when I called you a hyena!" Emma apologized.

"Naw, it's okay. That was a pretty good comparison though!" He laughed, scratching the back of his head, Emma joining him. Sam sat down beside them with a sigh, and Emma handed her some cornbread, and she nibbled on it slowly.

"You know, if I had enough of this stuff, I'd wolf it down, cause it's really good." Sam said with a tired laugh.

"Yeah, I hope they have some more at dinner." Emma replied.

Danny looked darkly at the cornbread, "If we make it to dinner."

Emma frowned, then gave him a little kick in the shin, "Danny, you're a _superhero!_ Aren't you supposed to be the one who's all _' Don't worry, Danny Phantom's here to save the day!' _Or some such nonsense."

Danny chuckled, "I honestly don't sound like that." Then he whispered jokingly, "Do I?"

Sam laughed, "Your superhero half did. Remember, when you split into fun Danny and Super Danny."

"I remember!" Danny replied, and then said, "Didn't fun Danny always say 'Dude!' all the time?"

"Yeah." Sam said. "It was kind of annoying how irresponsible he was though."

"Sorry." Sam waved off his apology.

"You were literally in a different state of mind at that time." Sam told him.

"That was a really confusing day for me that was. I had absolutely no idea what was going on. And then there were TWO DANNYS, and I just thought, 'Okay, I give up!'" Emma laughed, and the other two joined her, their voices echoing off the walls and deep into the cave, blackness on one side and blackness on the other.

They fell silent. After they finished some more cornbread, Emma rationed out the small amount of cheese had been sent with. "Hey, you wanna go see if Henry Georges wants some?" She joked. The three laughed, but stopped when they thought they heard something back in the blackness from which they came.

They quickly packed up and started farther in at a really fast pace.

* * *

"Hey guys, check it out!" Emma said, running over to an old mine cart that was sitting on an old cart track.

"Perfect! It's bound to lead us somewhere!" Danny cried out, running over to Emma, who was checking out the wheels. She got in and stood at the front of the cart, Danny standing at the side.

Then, Emma began humming a song, grinning mischievously. "What?" Sam asked, going over to her friends.

"_Scooby, Scooby Doo, where are you, we've got some work to do now. Scooby, Scooby Doo, where are you, we need some help from you now!_" Emma sang.

"Oh, _hell_ no. I am not getting in there and riding that decrepit old thing." Sam said, folding her arms as Emma bent down and examined a lever coming out of the bottom.

"Hey, I think this is the brake." She said, pulling on the rusty lever. Suddenly, the cart jerked forward and began moving swiftly, Danny jumping in last minute.

"Wait up!" Sam yelled and ran after them, barely catching up. Danny pulled her inside and they all held on, Emma grinning as they sped along a flat track for a few minutes, until they suddenly began going down a very steep incline.

"I don't think this thing was meant for humans!" Sam screamed, as the cart pulled up, and made a sharp turn left.

It made a couple more sharp turns, then went down another steep incline, Emma screaming, _"Yeeha!"_

The cart went up the hill swiftly, Danny pulling down Emma and Sam before they could get decapitated by a stalactite. Popping back up, they looked over the tall rise, and saw that they were going for a _very_ long fall. At an eighty degree angle, they headed downwards, nearly falling off the track as they sped along. "I'm going to die. I'm going to die with someone _screaming_ in my _ear_." Sam told herself, for indeed, Emma seemed to be enjoying the ride, Danny grinning alongside her.

The cart pulled up, and made many sharp turns, riding up onto small hills of rock, before going up one medium-sized hill, and coming back down, speeding quickly across a flat area. Danny looked ahead and saw that they were quickly approaching a cliff. "Emma, do you think those brakes are working?" He asked urgently.

Emma looked ahead as well and saw the cliff, then scrambled over to the brake. She pulled on the rusty old lever, but it broke off in her hands, "Uhh… Danny, I don't think the brakes are working." She held up the lever and he looked back and saw it.

"Oh crap." He looked ahead and saw that they were just about on the cliff. _"Jump!!!"_ He yelled, and they jumped out of the back of the cart as it went over the edge. After a couple moments, they heard it smash against the floor.

The three got up and walked over to the edge of the cliff and saw that inside was just a big pit filled with stalactites. There were three skeletons in the pit, stabbed through with stalactites, and another cart, broken as well. "Remind me never to go to Six Flags." Sam told them, and they agreed.

"But look!" Emma pointed to their right. There was an opening to another tunnel in the wall.

"I told you those tracks would lead us somewhere!" Danny said, running towards the tunnel. Emma waved at the skeletons before running after him, Sam joining them. They entered the tunnel, and it turned out it was much larger than the previous one, but it had a large amount of very big stalactites hanging over their heads and short sharp stalagmites on the ground ready to be fallen on.

Being much more careful about their walking, Emma and Sam hitching up their skirts to not get caught on the sharp rock formations, they moved onward, with adrenaline still rushing through their veins.

* * *

After trudging along for another two hours, they came out of the tunnel into a great big pocket in the rock, a gaping divide going in between the side they were on, and the side they wanted to be on.

"Great, we're stuck!" Emma yelled, her voice echoing out into the darkness, out of the pocket of illumination Danny's ghost ray gave them, that only showed the very, very small cliff that they were standing on. Emma flopped onto the ground exasperatedly, Danny joining her.

"What do you mean we're stuck, can't we just fly over?" Sam asked.

"Um, no. Apparently, something in this mine is preventing my powers, I have been attempting to phase through the floor for an hour now." Emma told her friend tiredly.

"The only power working for me right now is the ghost ray. I've been testing too." Danny sighed. "We really are stuck this time."

"It won't belong now until we start eating each other like cannibals." Emma joked. Then her stomach rumbled, and she and her friends paled. "I did _not_ mean that to be so literal." She growled, then crawled over to the edge of the cliff. She looked down and her eyes widened. "Oh, _no way!_" She said excitedly, sitting up. She reached over and grabbed Danny's wrist and pulled him over to the edge, holding out the glowing hand. "It is!"

She stood up, pulling Danny away from the edge as she stood. "I found our way across!"

"Where?" Sam asked, running over and grabbing Danny's wrist and pulling him back to the edge to see.

"What is with you people? You're going to dislocate my wrist!" Danny yelled.

"Sorry," Sam apologized and Danny held down his hand for them to see into the blackness of the hole.

"There." Emma pointed, and they saw a small, thin bridge of loose rock that would barely hold one of them, let lone the three at a time.

"Are you _kidding me?_ That's _suicide!_" Sam yelled, and saw a small rock from the bride fall into the blackness.

Danny shrugged, "Hey, if we don't do it, we're going to die here anyway."

Sam pouted, "You're already half-dead, so it doesn't count!"

Danny laughed, but continued on, "We just have to climb down. Walk across, and then climb back up. It should be simple enough."

"Fine then, if you put it that way, let's do it!" Sam said sarcastically.

"Okay, I'll go first." Danny replied, and started climbing down the side.

"I was being sarcastic!" Sam yelled after him.

"Don't yell, it crumbles the bridge!" Danny laughed back, Emma starting to climb down after him.

"Don't you dare look up Danny!" She told him, and he blushed slightly.

Sam followed them down with a sigh, and they stopped on the small amount of rock that was placed conveniently before the bridge. Danny stepped across carefully, a bit of rock crumbling slightly beneath his feet. He made his way to the middle, before Emma forced Sam across. She looked down and began to feel slightly dizzy. "I can't do it!" She yelled, feeling the rock slipping away underfoot.

She was used to flying with Danny, when he was there to support her, but right now he wasn't, and he couldn't fly right now, and there was blackness underneath that led to who-knows-where and she was so high up. "Oh, god…" She groaned, and she could _feel_ the rocks _falling_.

Emma saw the rock beneath Sam's feet begin to give out and she ran forward and pushed Sam across into Danny's arms just as the rock gave way, sending Emma tumbling through the darkness. Danny ran to the edge of the rocks, and called Emma's name, echoing off the walls, mocking him.

Emma heard the call as she plunged into darkness until, _Crack!_, she hit a piece of solid ground, jutting out of one of the sides. Blackness surrounding her, she heard Danny's voice echoing back around her. It was apparent that the sound she'd made when she hit had echoed as well. She groaned slightly, part of her body hanging off the edge of the piece of rock. It was apparent she had hit hard, but luckily not hard enough to break anything, just some nasty bruises.

_Really_ nasty bruises.

She waited a moment before sitting up. She thought she heard the echoes of someone crying from above her. "Danny…" she groaned hoarsely. "Danny." She called slightly louder, just barely enough to echo.

The crying echoes stopped, listening. Emma called again, "Danny. I'm okay." She stood up, the darkness giving her a feeling of nothingness, and there was a rush of blood to her head, knocking her off balance for a moment, before she grabbed the wall.

Danny paused, listening to the vague reply, certain pieces of her message blocked out. "She's okay!" He told Sam happily, and she grinned. He turned called back, "Can you climb up?"

"Yes…yes…ye…s… y…s…" Her echoed reply faded out. Danny grinned.

"We'll wait here for you." He called back.

"NO!... No!... No… no…o…" Emma replied loudly. "Keep… keep… k…p… go…o… up…p…"

"Okay!" Danny called back, and he stood up from his kneeling position, and Sam turned around, eager to get out of the bottomless pit, and began to climb, Danny quickly following.

Emma reached upwards and felt for a hand hold in the blackness. She grabbed one, and pulled herself up, grabbing for another, slowly but surely, in a trial and error process, she made her way up to the top of the cliff, pulling herself up and collapsing on the ground, her limbs tired.

Danny ran over to her, "Are you okay?" He asked concernedly, brow furrowed.

"I'm fine…" Emma panted, "Just sore…" She sat up with Danny's help and bent this way and that, testing her limbs. "Yup, it's all here." She said with a smile, and he pulled her up to the standing position. She was very surprised to find that her bag was still with her, especially after her fall. "Let's go." She said, pointing to another tunnel.

Sam lead the way, Danny after her, and Emma last. The floor was smoother here, so they didn't have to bee as careful, but there were still stalactites to look out for, and the ceiling seemed to be slightly looser here, but they paid no mind as they hiked along.

* * *

Danny sighed, and rested against the wall. "Do you have the feeling that we're going in circles?" He asked.

"Well, if that stalactite isn't identical to the last fifty thousand, then I really think you're right." Sam replied. Emma sighed and rubbed her back. It wasn't feeling too good after her crash-landing, and neither was her right leg.

"You know what, I know how to mark where we've been." Danny said annoyed, and the ghost energy he'd been holding glowed brighter.

"I don't think that's a good idea!" Emma yelled, too late as the energy shot out of his hand and hit the opposite wall. Suddenly, there was a loud rumbling, and the stalactites began falling from the ceiling.

"Run!" Danny yelled, and Emma and Sam followed him through the maze of a tunnel, and they dove under a small alcove to avoid being run through with the long rock swords.

"Why is it that things keep attempting to fall on us?" Sam asked.

"You are going to be the death of me Danny." Emma told him, a slight smile on her face as she rubbed her forehead.

"But I haven't been yet." Danny replied, smiling back.

"Okay, guys, you can have your mushy boyfriend-girlfriend moment when we get out of here, how about that?" Sam said exasperatedly. Her friends nodded and they crawled out of the alcove and started on their way.

* * *

Danny and Emma marched along an hour later, Sam just behind them as they trudged up the incline tiredly. Suddenly, out of the side of the tunnel, a swarm of bats flew at them. Danny yelled and began zapping them with his ghost energy, before he realized what they were.

Sam giggled, making him blush, embarrassed. "Guys," Emma said. "Those were bats, and they were flying away from us, which means…"

All of their eyes widened, "Freedom."

"Follow those bats!" Emma yelled, and they raced up the incline after the rats with wings. The area for standing was becoming increasingly small, and soon they were crouching, then they were crawling, and it stayed at crawling height until they smelled fresh air and the cold night wind blew in onto their faces.

Emma crawled out first, nearly falling the twenty feet to the ground. "Wait," She told her friends, before looking down over the edge of the small cliff. There, she saw their three horses, and only their horses, beneath her, and they looked up and began neighing and bucking excitedly, happy to see their riders again.

Emma grinned down at Desert Rose, who nudged at Shadow, who was grinning a very horsy grin. "Come on!" She said excitedly, before climbing out of the opening and down the side of the mountain.

Danny followed her, squeezing through the hole and helping Sam out before climbing down him self. Shadow galloped over to him and began nibbling Danny's hair affectionately. Grim trotted over to Sam, who immediately climbed on, patting Grim's neck tiredly.

Emma hugged Desert Rose's neck before climbing onto her back. Danny situated himself on Shadow's saddle comfortably before kicking him into a small trot, Grim and Desert Rose following Shadow through the night.

Within a couple minutes, Emma was fast asleep on her saddle, Desert Rose seeming very content as her rider rested on her neck. Danny smiled over at his sleeping girlfriend, as the moonlight shone on her face.

And for some reason, he felt that this was exactly how it was supposed to be.

* * *

**A/N:** This was the awesomest chapter to write. I stayed up until 6:10 AM to write this one, just because I, personally, wanted to see what happened. I love my job! Oh, and BTW, channel one eighty is SciFi, now called SyFy. Ta, luv.


	7. Injuries and Heartstrings!

**Disclaimer:** Let me say it slowly: I, as in me, do not, I will repeat, _do not_, own Danny Phantom. Did you hear me clearly? Good.

**Random surfer dude:** Dude, there's a chicken on my head, shyah.

* * *

**Injuries and Heartstrings!**

After the half-hour ride, they arrived at the town and Danny reached over to gently wake Emma up. He gently gripped her upper arm and gave her a little shake. "Emma, wake up now. We're home."

"Ow…" Emma moaned as she came back into consciousness. "My arm…" She muttered.

Danny let go quickly before asking, "What about your arm?" Emma sat up and rubbed it gingerly, setting off a small dust cloud.

"I landed on it in the gaping hole I fell into." She told him flatly, before stretching and cracking her back. "_Oww!_" She cried out afterwards, the bruised flesh not appreciating the stretching. Desert Rose looked back at Emma, but Emma just patted her neck reassuringly as they trotted casually into town.

As Danny looked over at her, he now saw some of the darker smudges on Emma's face and hands from her fall, when he'd sworn she'd died for real this time. _God must really love her._ Danny thought to himself, _Then again, why wouldn't he, she's an angel on Earth, she's beautiful, she loves children and animals, and children and animals love her. She is a support beam for people when they need it, and she has beautiful ideas of things people should do in everyday life._ He watched her wince when she moved her right leg and reached over and put his hand on hers. "You okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Emma replied as they trotted up to the front of the Saloon. They got off their horses and tied them to the post outside the building. They walked inside and saw Henry sitting at one of the tables, rubbing his forehead worriedly. He looked up as they stepped in and he jumped up and ran over to them quickly.

He wrapped Sam in a quick hug, before asking all of them if they were all right. In the lamplight, they realized just how dirty they really were, coated in two layers of filth, Emma with deep black smudges from her fall covering parts of her neck, face and hands. None of them were seriously injured, just in dire need of a bath. Jane walked into the room and saw them and practically tackled them to the ground in a hug.

"Oh, God, are you guys all right?" Emma gave a little groan as Jane squeezed her arm, but other than that, the group denied all forms of injury. "We need to get you food, but first a bath." Jane told them, and they nodded vigorously.

* * *

It turns out the only place for bathing was a bunch of large metal tubs that were above fires and filled with water, just like the old-fashioned type. The only thing separating them from the person next to them was a curtain, unfortunately, but at least they could talk by themselves. Sam was in the tub between Danny's and Emma's, so the two had to call over her. Emma stepped into the tub and lowered herself down with a sigh into the steaming water, hearing a small splash as Danny sat down, Sam having rushed over to the tub almost as soon as they'd entered the room.

"Ahh…" Emma sighed happily, the water felt nice on her sore joints. She dunked her head and scrubbed her fingers into her scalp, trying to remove the really deep dirt. She popped back up, her head feeling cleaner before reaching out of the tub for the shampoo bottle.

"I could soak like this for _hours…"_ Danny said happily, leaning back in the tub, resting his arms on the edges.

"I just want this dirt off!" Sam told them, scrubbing away with the soft bristled scrub brush covered in soap.

Emma smiled, "Hey Danny, all you need now is the mud mask and the cucumbers and you'd be set." The three laughed light-heartedly.

"With a massage from you and I'd be feeling good." He tucked his arms behind his head, slowly feeling the dirt begin to drip off of him with the water. Emma giggled on the other end of the room.

Sam ducked under the water, scrubbing her face and moving up to her scalp. She heard the muffled sounds of talking and popped back up out of the water for a breather. "What'd you say?"

"I said at least Lunette didn't cause our problems today. That beam broke because you shot it." Danny repeated.

"You are so mean to historical artifacts!" Emma joked, reaching for the soap and scrub brush.

"Hey, it was an accident!" Sam yelled with a laugh, and Danny chuckled as well. Emma began scrubbing her back as Danny started rinsing the dirt off his shoulders. "Hey, could you roll the shampoo bottle over here, I don't have any." Sam asked Emma, and Emma ducked under the water to get rid of the left-over shampoo suds dripping from her head. She popped back up a minute later and rolled the glass bottle under the curtain. "Yuck, it's pink."

"Hey, blame the shampoo company, not me." Emma said, and continued scrubbing the dirt from her legs.

* * *

Danny sat in his pajamas next to Emma on her bed, Sam sitting on the carpet on the ground. Emma lay on her stomach, watching Sam skim through the diary, "There is a lot of stuff in here, how long did she have this thing?" She asked, pausing at something she found to read.

"Since she was thirteen, so from thirteen to about sixteen-seventeen. About, four years." Emma told her, kicking her legs back and forth, Danny leaning back against the wooden headboard, watching. She was wearing one of his pajama shirts that was slightly long on her (it was long on him too, since they were about the same height.) It was slightly pulled up, showing a small amount of skin on her back between the shirt and the panty line. He was looking at the smooth skin on her back, and he saw that there was a dark edge just before the shirt.

He reached over and tugged it up, Emma crying out in surprise, and he saw a large dark purple bruise covering the entirety of her back. His eyes widened and he dropped the hem of the shirt, and it fluttered down onto her back, Emma staring at him, him looking back with wide eyes.

Sam watched them warily, before Danny shakily asked, "Does it hurt?"

"Does it look like it hurts?" Emma replied seriously. Before they could stop her, she had turned away from them and pulled off the shirt, and they saw the bruise stretched up onto her shoulders, the back of her arm was also pretty dark, but was already turning yellow around the edges, like it was healing itself. "Yes." Emma told them with a bit of a crack in her voice. "It hurts."

She pulled the shirt back on and Danny carefully put his hand on her shoulder, but Emma didn't even flinch, so he guessed it was okay. "I'm sorry."

"What could you do?" She asked him with a shrug, turning back around. Danny looked at her and frowned, wrapping his arms tenderly around her shoulders. She leaned back in his warm embrace, barely flinching as her bruised flesh was pressed against him.

Sam looked at them a moment, before turning back to the diary. They all turned as Jane opened the door. "Hey, I got your dinners." She said, stepping into the room, three people coming in after her, each holding a wooden tray. Emma moved to the side so that Danny could rest the tray that the girl gave him on his lap. The girl gave him a glare, blaming him for her having to wake up. She turned and swiftly walked out of the room, the nightdress flowing around her swiftly moving legs.

The cute stable hand smiled at Emma as he handed her the tray of food, afterwards bowing to her exaggeratedly, his brown hair falling over his closed eyes, which opened as he stood. Emma giggled lightly, and Danny growled angrily at the boy, who glared at him, before retreating after the girl.

Sam smiled at the black-haired green-eyed boy who served her, his long wrinkled night-shirt hanging over his jeans. He smiled back at the Goth girl, and gave her his handkerchief to use as a napkin, before disappearing as well. Jane went over and sat beside Emma on the edge of the bed, her baby blue nightgown fluttering down around her ankles. "So, whatcha talkin' about?"

"Oh nothing, we were just discussing the vast amount of frigging _rock_ that nearly fell on us." Sam said taking the largest bite she could out of the cornbread that she had been given. Jane nodded and looked over at Danny and Emma, who were repeating the action Sam had done, savoring the delicious food.

"Sucks that the food we'd been given got ruined cause of the rock dust." Danny commented, and the two girls nodded vigorously, Jane laughing. Emma took a long drink of the glass of water, before saying that the mine had been a very big adventure.

"Sure was." Sam said, leaning back against the stained cherry armoire that was on the other side of the room. Emma sat the tray next to her, Danny doing the same, occasionally reaching onto Emma's plate, Emma only smiling at him when he did. A cool breeze fluttered in through the window, blowing their hair slightly.

Suddenly, a girl wearing jeans and a shirt with cowboy boots swung down through the window, skimming over the desk. Jane shrieked and scuttled back against the wall as the girl landed on the ground gracefully, and turned to Emma, eyes and hands glowing white. Danny recognized her as the girl who glared at him earlier. Emma stood up and Jane watched the two girls fearfully, hands over her mouth afraid to make a sound. "Today just keeps getting better and better." Emma said cynically. She twisted to dodge the girl's swipe and then cried out in pain, stumbling to the ground, her bruised back not letting her move in the ways she usually used.

Danny jumped off the bed and helped her up, standing in front of her defensively, he took her hand and told her, "I won't let you fight this time, you're still weak, and Lunette knows that."

Emma glared over his shoulder at the girl, and quietly agreed and went over and curled up on the bed slowly, whispering to Jane, "Close your eyes." Jane closed her scared eyes tightly, covering them with her hands. In the center of the room, Danny moved to stand in front of Emma and Jane, and his hands flared up green. The girl's lip curled up in a sneer and she charged him, swiping this way and that as he moved, her hands barely missing him. She took this chance to lunge for Emma, but Danny grabbed her arm and swung her around, sending her flying into the wall on the other side of the armoire opposite Sam's hiding place.

Jane shivered at the sound, but remained silent, not daring to look. Emma wrapped an arm around the girl comfortingly as she watched Danny fly at the girl, sending a punch, but missed as the girl twirled away. "Get back here!" Danny yelled, swinging punches, but the girl was lithe and maneuvered out of his range, occasionally attempting blows at Emma, but Danny was better at defense, and would grab the girl before she could land a hit.

The girl twisted out of the way of his hit, and swiped up at him, leaving a large mark on his arm, red blood seeping out. Danny, shocked, stumbled back and the girl rushed at him again, swiping at him over and over as he barely moved in time. He ran into the desk and could only duck down as the girl attempted a swipe at his neck. He dodged over, and the girl lunged at Emma, but Danny grabbed her around the neck in a headlock. As the girl struggled they ran backwards into the wall, and the girl pulled at his arm. He looked down and saw that to his side was Emma's set of guns in their holsters.

Danny kicked the guns over to Emma who reached down off the bed and pulled one out of the holster, looking at it, and looked up at Danny. She shook her head as he struggled with the girl, and he wasn't sure how much longer he could hold her, as she was now causing deep gouges in his arm. His blue eyes looked at her sadly, and she gave in, looking at Danny morosely, she aimed and shot the girl, a shock of black and a flash of white, and Danny gave a pained yell. He slouched onto the ground beside the unconscious girl and was on his knees, held up by his arms. Emma ran over to Danny and helped him up, Sam running over to the bed and pulling off the trays of food, setting them on the desk as Emma rested Danny on the bed. Jane peeked through her fingers, suspecting that it was over and uncovered her eyes. She looked over at Danny and gasped, getting off the bed so he had more room. She glanced over at the unconscious girl before turning back to the scene before her.

Emma looked at her boyfriend who looked back up at her with pain-filled half lidded eyes. She looked away from his gaze and pulled up his shirt, and saw a dark almost soot covered mark over his stomach. She told Jane to bring over a wet cloth from the wash basin, and Jane obeyed, and she proceeded to clean the wound. The cloth slowly turned black as the injury emptied of the black soot-like substance, Danny wincing as Emma gingerly cleaned. The wound was medium-deep and as Emma finished cleaning it, it began to slowly fill with blood. Emma looked at it worriedly and when it filled with blood, she put her hand on it, and slowly, from her hand outwards, it began to scab over. She ran her hand down his arm and the smaller cuts and gouges disappeared.

He winced as he tried to sit up and Emma put her hand on his chest and shook her head. Jane watched this exchange before Emma turned to her, and said, "You should go to bed." Jane nodded numbly, starting to believe that it was all a dream, and turned and walked out of the room stiffly. "Well, that is a problem we'll deal with later." Emma commented, as she pulled the covers over Danny. He began to protest, but Emma put her hand over his mouth. "You are not going anywhere Danny." She walked over to the girl on the floor, Sam pushing down Danny's shoulders as he attempted to get up and help. Emma lifted the girl before turning to Sam, "You should get going."

"Sure," Sam said tiredly, yawning and grabbing the stable hand's handkerchief along with the rest of her food as she strolled out of the room as if a possessed girl hadn't just attempted to kill her friends. Emma walked over to the wall carrying the girl, turning intangible before turning to Danny.

"I expect to find you here when I get back, you hear me?" Emma told him firmly, and he nodded, smiling. Emma smiled back and flew out of the room to return the girl to her quarters.

* * *

Emma stepped lightly onto the ground of her room as she floated inside. Danny turned to her in the darkness and his eyes glowed green so she could see. She smiled at him and walked over to the bed, slipping in beside him. He turned over and wrapped his arm around her gently, and that was when she realized that he had taken off his shirt. She felt the warmth of his chest against her back and snuggled in gently, avoiding the painful scab. Danny smiled and breathed gently next to her ear. "Good night." He whispered.

"Good night." Emma replied, blushing slightly. She closed her eyes and allowed him to pull her closer, ignoring the pain in her back.

* * *

_Danny looked around and saw that they were in a parlor-like room, a burning hearth was at one side, and a mantle above it showed photographs, the faces and bodies blurred as if the camera were in motion at the time the photo was taken. In certain photos there was one person who was clear, but he wasn't close enough to find out who it was. There was piano music in the air, and he looked around and saw there was a piano, and a person playing it, fading into view. He saw that the person looked like Emma from behind, her nimble fingers gracing along the keys._

_Then Danny frowned, with a face that could have easily been interpreted as saying 'I am not amused.' __**"I'm in one of those dreams again aren't I?"**__ He said and walked farther into the room. The person stopped playing as the last chords faded out, and stood and walked over to Danny, looking at him in the eyes, brown meeting blue. It indeed looked like Emma, but he knew better._

"_**You need to be more careful, Danny."**__ Nightingale told him, lifting his shirt, and placing a hand on the dark scab on his stomach. __**"I can't afford to lose you again…"**_

"_**You won't be." **__Danny told her, pulling her hand away. __**"You can't."**__ He stepped away from the girl identical to the one he loves._

"_**We need you Danny."**__ Nightingale told him. __**"We need to be reunited. Centuries are too long to wait for love."**__ She stepped closer and rested a hand on his chest and looked at him pleadingly. __**"Daniel is waiting too."**_

* * *

_Emma looked around at the darkness, before one by one, little stars appeared in the sky, then suddenly a large moon lit up the darkness, and then dirt appeared under her feet, and spread out around her and a plain formed, flat and lit in the pale moonlight. Somebody tapped her on the shoulder and she turned around to find herself face to face with Daniel, who tipped his hat slightly to her, and gave her Danny's wide grin. Emma gave him a nod and a smile in return. __**"You need to help us."**__ Daniel told her. __**"You need to fight her. We must be reunited."**_

"_**You and Nightingale?"**__ She asked and he nodded, __**"What keeps you apart?"**__ He waved his arm across the sky and the stars moved to form a square and in the square, showed Nightingale and Daniel, facing off and the frame moved to focus in on Lunette, smiling cruelly as the two lovers looked each other in the eyes for the last time. __**"Lunette, of course…"**__ Emma muttered sourly. Daniel placed his hand on her shoulder._

"_**Help us, please."**__ He pleaded, a single tear coming out of his eyes and dripping slowly down his cheek, __**"Please, please, help us…"**_

* * *

Danny opened his eyes as the sun shone gently into the room, splaying out onto the floor like a puddle of gold. He felt Emma move in his grasp and she shifted towards him, "Mmm…" She groaned as she smiled in her sleep.

Danny didn't want to move from his happy position beside her, but he did, pulling away from her gently and sitting up. He stretched and realized that it wasn't painful to move like it had been the night before, and he looked and saw that the scab that had been on his stomach was gone, wound and all. He looked over at Emma and lifted up the back of the shirt to find the large bruise was still there, if only a little yellow around the edge. _She used her energy to heal me instead of her…_ Danny thought sadly. He reached over and ran his hand down her arm. He leaned down and placed a tender kiss on her cheek. She blinked her eyes open tiredly and turned her head to look at him. He smiled down at her, "Thank you." He said and she smiled at him.

She sat up tiredly, suppressing all sounds of pain as her back throbbed. He looked at her worriedly, but let it slide as she stood up in the morning sunlight. She resisted the urge to stretch and Danny stood beside her and wrapped his arms around her in a hug. She leaned back into it and yawned tiredly. "I don't want to leave." He pouted teasingly.

"I'll see you at breakfast." She told him with a smile and twisted painfully to give him a kiss as they stood together in the warm sunlight.

"I know." Danny replied, "But I want to stay here with you." He smiled at her and she smiled back.

"Come on Danny, you need to go get dressed before somebody finds out that you stayed here with me and decides to draw their own conclusions." Emma patted him on the side of the head affectionately and he let go, going over to the armoire and pulling out a red dress, one of a couple, and handed it to her.

He gave her a kiss and whispered, "Look nice for me."

She smiled and whispered back, "I always do." Danny turned and went over to his shirt, bending down and picking it up before walking out of the room. She listened as his footsteps disappeared, then went over to the window and watched him walk down the street to his building, carrying his shirt in his hand and rubbing sleep out of his eyes with his arm. She sighed happily and walked away from the open window to start changing into the dress he'd pick out of the armoire.

* * *

Danny snuck into the room, on tip-toe, closing the door as quietly as he could. He turned around and ran into Dash, who stood there, fully clothed in the cowboy garb with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face. "Hey there Fenton, nice of you to join me."

"Urg, Dash, I, uh, was just coming from-!" Danny began, trying to make up a lie on the spot.

"You spent the night with your little girlfriend, didn't you?" Dash said, and Danny glanced around nervously. Dash laughed.

"It's not what you think!" Danny said defensively.

"Oh yeah, what is it then?" Dash asked snidely, "I don't think Mister Lancer would be happy to find out that you and your girl were-"

"_That's not what happened!_" Danny said angrily. "I got hurt in the mine, so she took care of me. It's not like your little mind could perceive it as being anything else than your dirty thoughts can!" Than Danny realized everything he'd said in his moment of anger, and slapped his hand over his mouth.

"_Did you just call me stupid?_" Dash yelled and Danny scrambled out the door and ran down the hall, Dash thundering after him, "You get back here Fenton and _DIE LIKE A MAN!!!_" Danny yelled and practically fell down the stairs, scrambling to escape. They ran out into the street, Danny running as fast as he possibly could. They sped past the Saloon and Henry stepped out the door just as the two sped by.

"What the _hell_ is going on here?" He shouted and the two boys skidded to a stop a few feet away.

Dash pointed at Danny and yelled, "He called me stupid!"

Danny growled and said, "He accused me of sneaking off and…" He trailed off and turned a very dark red and Henry wondered if it was healthy to be that color. He gestured for the boys to come over and they strolled over, Dash and Danny glaring at each other. When they got over to him, Henry looked at each one sternly, before pointing to Dash, "You, stop chasing Danny over here, he's practically a historical artifact the way he looks, so don't go messing up his face or Nothin', and you," he said, pointing at Danny, who looked nervous, "Go get a shirt on boy." He turned Danny around and pushed him towards Danny's building, and Danny sighed gratefully and ran back to his room to do as he was ordered.

* * *

At breakfast, Jane walked over to the group, and put her hands on her hips, looking pointedly at each individual. She sat down beside Sam and leaned forward and said, "I know what went on last night wasn't a dream."

The trio looked at each other and Emma turned to Jane, "What are you talking about?"

Jane scowled, "You know exactly what I'm talking about." She pointed to Danny, "Take off your shirt." She ordered.

Emma grabbed her wrist and scowled, "Hey, he's _my_ boyfriend."

Jane wrenched her wrist out of Emma's grasp, "He has this hole on his chest, you'll see." Emma used her most expressive confused face, before nodding to Danny. He pulled off his shirt and sure enough, the hole was gone, just as it had been earlier. Even Sam seemed a little shocked, but kept her composure. Jane blushed, "Oh, um… Sorry, I was just so sure it was real!"

As Danny put his shirt back on, Emma put her hand on Jane's, "Its okay. You fell asleep last night after talking to us. Danny brought you back to your room, and while sleeping, you must have had some dream." Jane nodded and stood up.

"Sorry for the trouble." She muttered and walked away.

Sam and Emma seemed sad. "I feel so bad about manipulating her that way." Emma said. Sam and Danny nodded in agreement.

"It's to keep her safe. The less she's involved the better." Danny said, his hero complex kicking in. Emma agreed quietly, turning back to her food. She took a bite of waffle and chewed quietly, suddenly feeling slightly tired. She looked up at her friends to see if they looked as tired as she felt, but they didn't. She pushed her plate to the side, and stretched as widely as she could, the shock of pain waking her up. Emma cringed, and Danny looked over concernedly. Emma shook her head at him, and stood up.

"I'm gonna go see Desert Rose." She said slowly, and walked out of the Saloon, her friend's eyes following her out.

* * *

Emma sat in the stable next to Desert Rose, who lay beside her. The horse sensed something was wrong and nudged the girl next to her. Emma laid a hand on the horse's face reassuringly. She rested her head on the horse's neck as it rested it's head on her lap. Her eyes felt so tired, and her mind felt blurry, like there was something else in there with her. She tried to force her eyes open, and got them open, but there seemed to be something covering her eyes, making everything a strange blur. Like there was a film covering her eyes.

Emma's eyes shot open, and she tried to force the tiredness away. Her hands flared up and she stood, backing away from the horse. Concerned, Desert Rose stepped toward her ad Emma stepped away, her glowing hands fading from white to black as she tried to fight the fog starting to settle in her mind. Desert Rose took a step toward her friend, fearing that she was hurt. "Stay back!" Emma said, waving her grey glowing hands in front of her, and the horse paused and looked at her. She leaned her neck towards her friend, and Emma took a swipe at the horse, crying out "Stay back!" The horse, surprised, stepped back, and Emma phased through the wall to get out and ran out of the stable, leaving a sad horse behind her.

Emma ran into the street, and collapsed onto her knees, looking at the glowing grey as her eyes began to fog over. She looked up and there, standing in front of her, was no one else, but Lunette, a frown on her face. "I wo… won't let you… take over me…" Emma gasped out, fighting the control of the girl in front of her. Lunette lifted her arm, and brought it down, making a swipe at Emma, and her hand connected with skin, flesh tearing into a four pronged scrape, Emma wincing and falling to the side, focusing on not being overshadowed by the evil in front of her. Emma felt the scrape sizzling as the cuts came back together and white smoke came off the wound. Lunette smiled and kicked Emma hard, Emma wincing, but trying not to be distracted.

It was either give in when she attempted to fight back, or get beaten up and not fail everyone. Emma closed her eyes and let Lunette kick her, as she fought off the white fog that threatened her. Then, there was a greater shock of pain as Lunette kicked her in the back, and Emma's eyes shot open as she gasped in pain. _No, no, no! I have to focus!_ Emma clamped her eyes shut, but the fog kept gaining ever closer with every hit to her back. Emma frowned. Soon, she would lose all control, and be at Lunette's mercy. She opened her eyes and looked up at Lunette, turning over and shooting a grey bolt of energy at Lunette, which she deflected with a wave of her hand.

Emma felt the fog strike viper-quick and the film cover her eyes as Lunette took control. In a dream-like state, no control over her body, she stood as Lunette lifted her arm, like directing a marionette. Then, their surroundings seemed to shimmer out and fade back in, the inside of Emma's room replacing the dirt street. Lunette showed her Nightingale's diary, waving it before her with a smile. She opened it and placed it on the desk. "Read it aloud." Lunette ordered. Emma stepped over to the desk and looked down at the page.

She began to read the black script, her voice shaking as she fought inside her mind to regain control. "L-last night I made love to Daniel. W-we did it at h-his house, because my father w-would have killed him if he'd found out. It w-was the most beautiful thing I h-had ever experienced. Afterwards, b-before we fell asleep, he wrapped his a-arms around me and t-told me he loved me. H-he is the most amazing person I have ever met." After she read that, red words began writing over the black, and without wanting to, she read them. "I am n-not good enough for him, so I have d-decided that I should n-no longer be a part of his life. In o-order to not intrude, I will make it so that I shall n-never be able to see or hear of him or anybody e-else ever again. It would be better f-for him if he found somebody much more d-deserving."

Lunette, smiling her cruel smile, stepped up behind her. "Now I want you to take his gun," She whispered in her ear, putting one of Danny's guns in her right hand, before walking around to her other side and whispering, "and I want you to shoot yourself."

Emma lifted the gun and pressed it to her temple. She raged against Lunette in her mind, fighting away the fog that controlled her. "No…" She whispered, "_NO!_" She turned around and shot the gun at Lunette, but Lunette was already gone, and the only thing she'd shot was the wall. Emma looked around tiredly, before falling to her knees, and she began to cry.

* * *

Emma walked up beside Danny and Sam as they watched Jane display a couple artifacts from the edge of the crowd. "There you are, we've been looking for you. Where have you been?" Danny said.

"Oh, sorry, I've been nowhere." Emma replied eyes half-lidded and filled with an emotion that looked like tiredness.

Danny looked at her concernedly, "What's wrong?" He asked. Sam looked over, and drifted away so that they could be alone. He took Emma's face in his hand and she leaned her head into his palm, not looking at him.

"Everything's fine." She told him. Danny looked at her and frowned. Then he noticed that there was something on the side of her face. He looked closer and saw that it was dirt, like she'd been pushed to the ground.

Danny growled, "What happened?" Emma looked over at him.

"It was just Lunette. Nothing bad happened." She replied, and sighed tiredly, still clearing out her head after the mind-attack. _It was just Lunette… _She thought to herself, _Everything was just Lunette…_ Emma looked at Danny, then leaned forward and gave him a kiss. Danny just stopped and looked at her confusedly.

"What was that for?" He asked and Emma gave him a little smile.

"Because, I needed it." Emma told him.

Danny smiled, "Well, okay then." He surprised her by taking her face in his hands and kissing her back. Emma smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck, and when they released each other, they were both slightly flushed and feeling very glad that nobody was paying attention to them at the back of the crowd.

After a couple of minutes, Sam drifted back over to them, and gestured for them to follow her out the door behind the rest of the class, and they did so, hands linked together tightly, with no indication of letting go anytime soon.

* * *

By lunchtime, there was enough potent energy flowing between the two ghost teens that you could almost cut out pieces with a knife and sell it for twenty-five cents apiece. Emma and Danny didn't stop smiling for at least ten minutes into the lunch session until Sam commented on the too-happy atmosphere. "You guys are practically emitting pheromones, chill out, or I'll go find a bucket of ice water." Sam said, taking a bite out of her sandwich.

Danny blushed and chuckled at his friend's threat, and Emma tried to stop smiling. "Sorry we're too happy for little miss darkness over there." Emma said and jabbed at her food with her fork. She pretended to chase around her food for a couple of minutes, making little screaming noises, "No! Don't eat me!" She said in a tiny voice. "Rawr!" She cried out, replying to herself before chowing down in the distressed piece of food attatched to the end of her knife. Then she started giggling and Danny snorted, covering his mouth with his hand, attempting to stifle his laughter. Sam smiled despite herself.

"You should have shown it mercy." She said quietly and the three burst out in laughter, people looking over to see what the commotion was about. Finding out it was just the three 'losers' they turned back to their lunches. The group smiled at each other after they stopped laughing and continued eating quietly.

After half an hour of this, Henry got up onto the stage just as he did barely a day before to tell them about the trip into the mine, and for Danny and company, a trip to another bout of near death experiences. "May I have your attention please?" Henry called out over the crowd and immediately they silenced, looking over at him. Henry, taken aback by the act of mass obedience, stumbled over his words for a moment, "Umm, well, anyways, I wanted to inform you that because of how well behaved all you students have been, we'll be hostin' a big party here in the Saloon tonight." There was a loud round of cheers and hollering from the crowd, including Danny and Emma, before Henry continued. "Glad ya'll're excited. So after you eat, you'll be goin' with Jane and me to the Tailor's shop to pick out your clothes for the party, you hear." He gave a little wave before he hopped down off the stage and lumbered off somewhere.

Emma grinned, "Par-tay, we're goin' to a par-tay!" She did a little shimmy-dance before settling down. "Oh, this is gonna be _fun!_"

"Aw, parties really aren't my thing." Sam said with a little smile on her face.

"Oh yeah, what about that dance at the school?" Danny asked teasingly.

"That was a _school dance_ Danny, entirely different." Sam replied.

"It is not. It's still a party. Was there food?" Emma began.

"Yes, but-"

"Was there music?"

"Yes, there was-"

"Was there funky decorations and a bunch of people dancin' til they just could dance no more?"

"Now that's just-"

"Then it was a party!" Emma concluded with a smile.

"You've gotta come!" Danny said pleadingly.

"I never said I wasn't Danny!" Sam sighed, crossing her arms and leaning back in her seat. Emma grinned.

"Good, now we won't have to force you!" She laughed, and Danny grinned as well. Sam shook her head with a smile and chuckled lightly.

* * *

**A/N: **OMG, This chapter is stupidly named. I guess it was because of how much more touchy-feely romance is in this one. This took me forever. The next chappie will be better though. Thank you for waiting patiently as you could for this chapter; I have worked very hard for at least a week on this, SCREW YOU WRITER'S BLOCK!!! Again, thank you. **I brake for reviewers!!**


	8. Let's Party Time Warp Style!

**Disclaimer:** The ownage of Danny Phantom is not by me. It is by Butch.

**Tucker:** I'm not crawling through an air vent in a spooky hospital; I'm crawling through an air vent in a totally not spooky modeling agency.

* * *

**Let's Party Time Warp Style!**

Emma stood in front of the mirror in the tailor shop, holding up two different colored dresses, looking at them both, "You know, I think Danny's becoming a little bit more possessive of you. Did you notice?" Sam asked, leaning back in a chair with her legs crossed reading an antique catalogue.

"No I didn't, well, not really." Emma turned to one side and then the other, "I did notice something, and I kind of like it, but it doesn't seem like possessiveness would be the right word for it." Emma squinted at the mirror and bit her lip anxiously. She turned to Sam, "Which one do you think I should get?" She asked her friend and Sam peered over the catalogue to look at her.

"The black one." She said, going back to reading.

Emma huffed, "Well, of course you pick the black one." Emma looked over at Jane, who scuttled into the room carrying a couple of dresses, and she began logging them back in hurriedly. "Hey Jane, which one do you think I should get?" She asked.

Jane turned and looked, biting on the end of the pen, before pointing, "Get the blue one." Emma looked at the blue one, and then looked at the blue dress Jane wore.

"I give up on you two!" Emma yelled exasperatedly before dropping the two dresses onto the table. Jane went over and took them and logged them back in before putting them away with the rest of the dresses. Emma went over to the rack and skimmed over the dresses and sighed, flopping onto the carpet. "There is nothing good enough." Emma complained. "I do like the red, but there isn't any red dresses here, they have purple, green, blue, black, everything. But they don't have red." Jane patted Emma on the shoulder.

"It's okay Emma, there is bound to be something you can wear." She told her consolingly. Then a gentle breeze blew through the tiny, dusty open window at the top of the wall, barely enough for them to even feel, but just enough to make a little piece of paper come fluttering down from underneath the little door to the concealed cabinet above their heads. It landed on Emma's lap and Emma looked at it confusedly. She picked it up and opened the little envelope.

She began to read it aloud. "_Dearest Nightingale, I am very glad that I have finished your dress, and apologize for having taken so much time. A dress such as yours done in such secret is terribly hard to finish. But I did! I am very pleased with the results, and hope you are too when I get it to you. Your friend, Caleb_." Sam had wandered over to her as she read, curious.

"Oh, oh, oh!" Emma said, snapping her fingers, her eyes lighting up, "I know this guy, Caleb, Caleb, uh… Reese! Caleb Reese! He's mentioned in Nightingale's diary as being a close friend."

"Oh yeah!" Jane said, "He's the son of Jacoby Reese, the tailor!" Emma nodded and stood.

"This, quite obviously, came from up there!" Emma pointed, but there was nothing there, just a couple empty shelves. "But what was it attached to?"

"Maybe a box?" Sam offered.

"But there's nothing there!" Jane exclaimed.

"Maybe it just looks that way." Emma said pulling over the chair Sam had been sitting in minutes ago. She stood on it and looked over the shelves, then reached up and began inspecting the solid back of the wall. Then she noticed a little strip of twine coming from a tiny hole in the wall. "I found something!"

"Is it treasure?" Sam said enthusiastically. The two girls turned and looked at her. Sam put her hands on her hips, "Hello, joking."

Emma turned back to the piece of twine and reached up and gave it a tug. Suddenly, a hatch flew open in the wall and inside was a dark blue box with a light blue ribbon tied around it. Emma pulled out the box and blew off a layer of dust, making herself sneeze. She climbed back down and put the box on the table nearby and the three girls huddled around it. Emma untied the bow and pulled off the top of the box. Inside, perfectly preserved, was a pristine white dress. "Oh, wow!" Emma said, pulling it out and twirling around while holding it up to herself. "I love it!" She walked over to the mirror and smiled at her reflection. Sam's and Jane's reflections joined hers in the mirror and Sam picked up the edge of the white dress.

"Guys," Sam said, "I don't think that Nightingale and Fast-Shootin' Fenton were just in love, I think they were going to get married." Sam dropped the edge of the dress and the girls all looked at one another and frowned.

* * *

I look like Zorro." Danny said, twisting in the mirror.

A boy Danny had become acquaintances with, Danny having the necessary firepower to distract Dash from maiming the poor kid peered around the corner of the dressing stall he was in to look at Danny observing himself in the mirror. "Yes, yes, you do."

"Thanks a lot Jeremy." He said flatly to the blonde haired boy. "Who the hell ordered this?" Danny asked, and went over to find the boy working the catalogues and flipped through it. _Anonymous. Obviously the person didn't want them to know who the lame idiot was who was buying this._ Danny thought and swished around in the long black cape complete with mask. _Who even handed this to me?_ He wondered, before rushing off to pull of the stifling black clothes, missing his T-shirt and jeans even more.

"How does this look?" Jeremy asked from out of his vision range. Danny peeled off the shirt, cape and mask before walking back out in the darker black jeans than his other pair. He saw the boy in a faded light blue top with odd embroidery, fancy cowboy boots with the same markings, but as imprints on the leather.

"Dude, you look awesome!" Danny told him with a grin.

"I feel like a dork." Jeremy said, his arms hanging dejectedly at his sides. Danny laughed.

"We feel that way every day. Me especially." Danny replied, retreating back to his stall with a new set of clothes.

"No way, man." Jeremy said passing by his stall and entering his own, "You are not a dork. You are Fast-Shootin' Fenton in the flesh and blood!"

Jeremy emerged from his stall again to check out the clothes, "No, I am actually-" Danny jumped out of the stall, shirtless and wearing the cape and mask and did a superhero pose, "El Dork!" Jeremy collapsed into a fit of laughter, Danny chuckling beside him.

"Oh, that was good. I should have gotten pictures for the internet!" Jeremy gasped as he recovered and collected the bag of clothes to change into later. Danny went back into the stall before Dash or anyone could get a good look at him and removed the cape and mask.

"But I still have nothing to wear. And I have a girlfriend to impress, unlike you." Danny told him as he sat for a moment on the chair in the stall waiting for inspiration.

"Oh, ouch, man. That hurt." Jeremy said from the other side. "Here." A couple of bags full of outfits dropped onto his head and scattered around, one landing on his lap. He opened it and saw the bright orange shirt.

"Hell no." Danny said and chucked it back over the wall, listening to Jeremy's laughter. He opened the rest of the bags, and sighed when he found that none of them were up to par. He slumped on the chair and looked around at the walls of the stall. He stood and walked out the stall and strolled around the room, watching as a couple of the other guys, including Dash and his football posse, checked out their clothes, Dash and Danny exchanged a glare as they passed one another, but neither moved to do anything about it. Danny turned to look at some more of the outfits when something caught his eye mid-turn. As he faced it, it disappeared, but when he twisted slightly, he was able to spot the shadow of something on the wall. He walked over, and Jeremy became interested and walked over to the corner beside him.

Danny began running his fingers along the wall and felt a mismatched board and went back to test it. He tried to grab the edge, digging his nails and gave it a little tug and the board came out of the wall with a lurch and Danny saw that it was on hinges. Jeremy peeked over his shoulder and pointed inside the hidden cabinet. "Look." Inside there was a black box on top of a small wooden box, most likely filled with old money. Danny pulled out the black box and put it on the counter, the boy working there's eyebrow went up and he quickly left the room, not wanting to get involved.

Jeremy pulled off the top quickly, eyes wide with excitement. Danny bent down to pick up a note that fell to the ground. He tucked it in his pocket before looking back to the contents of the box. Inside was a set of clothes, a black shirt, black jeans, with white cowboy boots and white gloves. There were intricate designs on the shirt and edges of the jeans in silver-white thread. Jeremy grinned at him excitedly. "No." Danny said firmly. "No, No, No!" Jeremy grinned wider and nodded his head happily.

* * *

Danny stood in the Saloon, white cowboy hat pressed firmly on his head, looking around at people with his hands jammed into his pockets. He glared at the corner of his eye at Jeremy, who seemed to be enjoying himself, chattering away to Danny, who wasn't listening. Jeremy forced him to wear the fancy outfit, gloves and all, to this party, and he wore the light blue shirt with brown gloves and the brown boots. He had a dark brown hat sitting on his blonde head, held up by his ears. Emma seemed to have abandoned him before the party started to go change. Where is she? He thought bitterly.

He sighed and then something fell out of his pocket. He reached down and picked up the small wrinkled envelope. He opened it and pulled out a slip of paper. _Dear Fenton, Your clothing design was pretty bland, so I went with Nightingale's design instead. Please don't shoot me. _Danny snorted at that. _I hope you two get out of this Hell-hole as fast as you can. Neither of you deserve to live here, you need better. Please, take care of Nightingale for me. Signed, Caleb._

Danny finished reading the note, and sighed. _Everyone keeps telling me to take care of Emma now __**and**__ then. I hate it because I don't know if I can anymore…_ He put the note back into the envelope and tucked it back in his pocket. Jeremy had begun chattering away to some random boy, who was starting to look uncomfortable. "Where's Emma? She should have been here by now." He said, and Jeremy looked over, the boy he was talking to running away quickly. Jeremy looked over his shoulder to the doorway and he tapped Danny on the shoulder. Danny looked over at the door and his eyes widened. Emma stepped into the room and looked over at him, and smiled. Her white dress looked amazing on her, flowing out around her, pearls inlaid at certain places. She let her hair down completely, rather than some of it being held back. She strode over to him with a smile.

"Hi Danny." She told him, brushing some hair behind her ear.

"You… look… amazing." He said breathlessly. He watched her blush, and grinned at her like a fool. Jeremy, however, was more focused on the girl who entered after her. As Jane approached him, he smiled and took off his hat, and giving her an exaggerated bow. She blushed as he took her hand and gave it a kiss. Sam looked slightly sour that she was all alone for this stupid party. Suddenly someone took her hand and spun her around and she found herself in the arms of the green-eyed stable-hand that had given her his handkerchief. She blushed and he grinned at her.

"Hey." She said and he led her off to the side so they could talk. Jeremy immediately started chattering away to Jane after their introductions and she listened amiably, thoroughly intrigued. Emma giggled lightly as she watched to two normal teenagers talk together.

Emma scanned over Danny's clothes and smiled. "I like it. Where 'd you get it?"

Danny blushed and scratched the back of his neck, "Hehehe, interesting story actually." Danny began.

"Let me guess, you found it in the wall?" Emma asked her hands on her hips.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Danny asked eyes wide.

Emma chuckled, "Same thing happened here, mine was surprisingly hard to get to." She twirled around lightly before asking, "Do you like it?"

Danny blushed, "Y-yeah, a lot actually." Danny saw a couple of the guys leading their girlfriends out onto the dance floor, including Jeremy and Jane, and got an idea. He took Emma's hand, "Hey, would you like to dance?"

Emma was startled a moment before smiling and nodding, "Sure!" He led her out into the center of the room where a bunch of people were dancing to the music, which was luckily not country thanks to Jane's selections.

Sam watched from where she was standing next to her green-eyed boy, whose name turned out to be Michael. He held out his hand and gave her a polite smile, "Oh, um, I'm not really the dancing type…" She blushed when he took her hand anyway and pulled her beside him on the dance floor.

"It's okay," He told her, "You're not gonna dance alone." Sam smiled at him and let him pull her along to the music, not very far away from Danny and Emma. Emma grinned at her and snuck her a thumbs up, and Sam grinned back.

After they all danced for a while, the group, and most of their classmates, mingled with one another, but Danny stayed with his tight-knit group of friends. Danny held a glass of punch and leaned against the table behind him casually, and actually looked (and felt, but he wouldn't admit it) like an old-time cowboy, of course this was heavily thrown off by the music playing in the background through the amps. A new song started, and all the girl's ears perked up. Grinning they all ran to the center of the dance floor, even Sam, leaving the boys behind. They all lined up and screamed, _"MAKE IT LOUDER!"_

Then music began to nearly shake the old floorboards as it heightened in volume.

**If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe  
I'd been married long time ago  
Where did you come from where did you go  
Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe**

Danny rolled his eyes as the girls began to dance, all grinning and getting along, because when the Cotton-Eye Joe was concerned, everyone was on equal terms. Emma danced alongside the other girls, twirling and clapping her hands and grinning like no tomorrow. Sam even seemed to be enjoying herself now, and Jane laughed along with them in the excitement.

If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe  
I'd been married long time ago  
Where did you come from where did you go  
Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe

Danny sighed and after the bass started thumping, jumped in beside the girls along with the rest of the boys when the lyrics started up again.

If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe  
I'd been married long time ago  
Where did you come from where did you go  
Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe

**If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe  
I'd been married long time ago  
Where did you come from where did you go  
Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe**

Danny grinned as he danced alongside Emma and the rest of the girls, and he even joined in the chanting of the background lyrics on the boy's side, "Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey! Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!" Then the girls picked up the female lyrics, singing along.

**"He came to town like a mid-winter storm**

**He rode to the fields, so handsome and strong**

**His eyes was his tools and his smile was his gun **

**But all he had come for was havin' some fun!" **

Danny sang along with the other guys to the next part:

**"If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe  
I'd been married long time ago  
Where did you come from where did you go  
Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe!**

**If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe  
I'd been married long time ago  
Where did you come from where did you go  
Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe!"**

The boys each approached a girl, gave an exaggerated bow, the girls pretending to be flattered, and took their hands, twirled them around and ducked them low. They pulled them up, twirled them around and sent them back to their places, and the girls began to sing:

"**He brought a disaster wherever he went  
The hearts of the girls were to hell, broken sent.  
They all ran away so nobody would know  
and left only men 'cause of Cotton-Eye Joe!" **

Danny grinned at Emma as he watched her sing, and the boys left the next two choruses to the music as they all danced in a couple of lines beside one another, none of them were bullies, none of them were nerds, or losers, none of them were Queen Bees or drones, and none of them were geeky girls. Everyone became equal.

**If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe  
I'd been married long time ago  
Where did you come from where did you go  
Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe!**

**If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe  
I'd been married long time ago  
Where did you come from where did you go  
Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe!**

The boys took up the background again, singing, "Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey! Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey! Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey! Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!"

**If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe  
I'd been married long time ago  
Where did you come from where did you go  
Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe!**

The girls all turned and blew a little kiss at the boys, and the boys all pretended to stagger back at the impact. They all continued dancing as the music went on.

**If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe  
I'd been married long time ago  
Where did you come from where did you go  
Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe!**

The boys didn't sing along with the chant however, but sang with the end chorus:

"**If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe  
I'd been married long time ago  
Where did you come from where did you go  
Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe!"**

When the song ended, the volume was turned back down as the teens scattered, quickly moving on from their little performance and returning to what they were doing. Henry walked up to Mister Lancer, who had seen this display before. "That was amazin'! Did you teach it to `em?" Lancer laughed widely.

"No, I certainly did not." He told Henry, "They learned it early on, and kept it up every time the song is played, whether they want to or not. It's just like it's some sort of rule." Lancer took a sip of punch.

Henry just nodded, confused and walked away. "Crazy city folk."

* * *

Emma collapsed back into the chair next to Danny's, a happy grin on her face. Danny was smiling widely too, thoroughly pleased with himself. _Yup, a pretty good kissing session usually does that to the morale._ Danny thought. Their table was in the corner of the room and almost nobody could see them, or at least they weren't paying attention. Danny glanced over at his girlfriend who made the chair lean back on two legs casually while Danny listened to _If You Seek Amy_ by Britney Spears pound over the stereo system. A couple of girls were dancing to it, including Paulina, and Sam stood off to the side with her young stable-hand by her side, and a look on her face that said, "Of course _she_ would be dancing to this song." After all it was probably Paulina's theme song.

Sam's hair was messed up slightly, and it looked like she had tried to fix it, proving that she had taken the other secluded corner to be with her guy as well. Jane had left the party with Jeremy being pulled along by the back of his shirt collar. He was grinning in the same fashion Danny was now, and it was apparent he probably wouldn't be coming back. Danny looked over at the table at the glass of punch sitting there, half full. Danny reached over and picked it up, taking a drink from it. Emma reached over and gently peeled it out of his hands into both her own and finished the glass with a smile.

Danny looked out one of the windows across the room. He turned and smiled at Emma, and stood up, holding out his hand. She looked at him and smiled, taking it, and he led her across the room and out the front door. On the porch the chilly night air reached them and a breeze wrapped its arms around them affectionately. When they stepped down off the porch an old horse-drawn carriage pulled up in front of them pulled by Shadow and Desert Rose. Desert Rose neighed happily and Danny opened the door to the carriage and helped Emma inside before getting in himself. _The person who suggested the stage coaches should get a raise._ Danny thought as he shut the door behind him, sitting beside Emma, who smiled at him.

"I have a sincere feeling that this party is better than prom will be." Emma joked as the carriage jerked into movement and Danny smiled at her and chuckled lightly. The carriage would go all the way out to the mountain and circle around it until about eleven or until you request to go back and a different coach left every twenty minutes through the night, unless empty. The carriage rattled on and Danny looked over at Emma who sat in a puddle of moonlight filtering through the glass-less window. It shined down on her pale skin, turning it white, but giving her a certain glow, and she looked not unlike a moon-spirit in her white dress. She gazed out upon the desolate landscape, looking like water as the darkness made it seem almost a color blue, her eyes to the sky, her lips lightly parted as she gazed upwards to the heavens.

Danny reached over to her and placed his hand on the back of her neck and pulled her to him, his other hand on the side of her face as he brought her in for a kiss. Emma seemed startled a moment, before she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back happily, the moon alighting on their hair. As they parted, Emma giggles slightly, "Best field trip ever." Danny laughed, his voice echoing out into the night air.

* * *

Once they reached the mountain they watched their carriage join the circle, going around and around the mountain at a gentle pace. They spotted Jane and Jeremy in another carriage nearby, resting on each other, at the time, looking peaceful. Emma looked up at the night sky, and noticed Danny was doing the same. She took his arm and he looked over and she smiled at him. They both transformed and phased through the roof, taking to the dark night sky, not a cloud in sight. They twirled together through the sky, graceful and happy. Danny wrapped his arms around Emma before doing a spiraling dive towards the ground, pulling them both back up into the air last minute. Emma took his hand and pulled him along, smiling, as she pulled him through twisted maneuvers.

Back inside one of the carriages, Jane looked out the window to see a white-haired boy fly through the sky, his arms wrapped around a black haired girl, his eyes closed contentedly. She gasped and Jeremy was called to attention and peered out the window to watch. "It's Danny Phantom and his girlfriend!" He exclaimed.

"Really?" Jane asked, "I've only heard about him from Sam and Aunt Pamela." She was intrigued, and the way they flew together reminded her of the way eagles danced in the sky with their mates.

"Personally, I've never seen him, but he's done so many things for Amity, he's a hero." Jeremy told her, watching as the pair did another spiraling fall, amazed at the pure trust and happiness in the two ghosts faces.

"It's amazing. Have they been known to do this back in Amity?" Jane asked, smiling as she watched Emma pull Danny through a twisting, twirling maze of movements, which they navigated with ease.

Jeremy watched them too, for a moment before replying, "No, never. But they probably never had much room there. Maybe this is where they go in their free time…"

Another carriage came trotting up to the ring of carriages as they circled the mountain, and Jane and Jeremy's carriage pulled around the edge of the small mountain that stuck out of the barren landscape, blocking their view of the two ghosts as they zigzagged along. The other carriages came around, the occupants gasping excitedly, watching the spectacle above them, while in the sky, Danny and Emma flew, oblivious to the groups watching below them. They twisted around and dove straight through the ground, pulling back up and shooting out to the stars. Floating together, hand in hand, they kissed and their glowing hands made green and black sparks pop around them like miniature fireworks.

The glowing display from up above made the humans down below gasp in awe, and the two teens turned their attention to them finally. With a smile, they flew away, through the mountain, before turning invisible and floating back down into their carriage on the other side. They smiled and Emma nestled down into a little niche at Danny's side, and he put his arm around her shoulders and felt the chill running over her skin from the wind. He smiled gently and looked out to the stars, shining clearly over the desert. He had never seen so many stars; the light pollution from Amity had always drowned out most of them. Well, he had on the Fenton Family Road-trips, but he had never had time to pay attention to them. _Stupid ghosts, they always ruin everything,_ he thought sourly, before looking down at Emma. _Well, almost everything._

* * *

Lunette sat on the solid dirt ground, running her hand over it listlessly. No one ever found this spot. No one found _her_. Lunette slowly sank into the ground and turned tangible when she felt the wood at her back. She turned her head and looked at the skeleton that lay beside her in the makeshift coffin. A silent scream played across the skull's face, and it wore the same dress Lunette wore now. Lunette sighed and ran a finger down the side of her human skull, a sigh full of regret, no. Not regret, it was a sigh that one gives off when remembering a time long passed. Forgotten memories flickered through her brain of a time long ago, so very long ago.

Lunette remembered her father. _He was a fool. He didn't love me, he feared me. He feared his own daughter._ Lunette remembered the horse she had loved and wanted so badly. The one she couldn't have, the only living thing that seemed to actually trust her. _But I killed it. Why wouldn't father just let me have it? Why?_ Lunette frowned deeply. _It's his fault the creature had to die._

She remembered her mother. Or at least what few pictures she had seen of her. She had been a beautiful woman with sleek straight blonde hair and an air of love about her. _She would have loved me. I know she would have loved me if she hadn't gone off and __**died**__ on me._ And then there was one. _Daniel. Daniel Fenton._ Lunette smiled at the thought of him, how polite he was to her when she had first met him. She stirred the dirt with her finger as she remembered their introduction.

'_Lunette, this is Daniel Fenton. He's most recently been found out and about helping our friend the Sheriff catch all those robbers that come around town.'_

_Daniel smiled his disarming smile at her, took off his hat and bowed. 'It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Lunette.' Lunette smiled back at him, eyes glistening with happiness._

'_It's nice to meet you too Mister Fenton.' She replied in her light lilting voice. Then __**she**__ stepped up behind him._

'_This is Nightingale, Lunette. She's his partner in crime. Well,' her father chuckled, 'Crime-fighting that is.' Lunette's face flashed a deep frown, but only a millisecond, no more than that. She placed her perfect mask back into place. She watched the little details of how the newcomers interacted; the way Daniel placed his hand lightly on Nightingale's shoulder and smiled at her, that disarming smile that was meant for __**Lunette**__ and only __**Lunette**__. The way he let his hand linger as it slid softly off her shoulder before he shook her father's hand._

_She hated the way they looked together, perfect for one another._

'_I'm glad to finally get to speak to you Miss Lunette. I'm so lucky to meet to you.' Nightingale said with a smile. That damned girl._

_Lunette smiled. 'I'm so glad you think so.'_

* * *

There was a comfortable silence in the night as Emma rested on Danny, sleeping with a light smile on her face. The night was closing to an end, the carriages heading back to town, as Danny gazed out into the stars, thinking with a smile, _Dear Journal, Vacations been pretty good. Almost feels normal. Life feels nice. I only wish it could last._ Danny looked down at Emma. _It certainly feels like it can…_

But life goes on, he knows that. With a sigh, he turned to look out the window again. A shooting star? He squints. No, just an airplane. Danny chuckles because it looks so out of place. Leaning back on the old cushions he closes his eyes and it felt like only a moment passed before he opened his eyes to knocking on the carriage door. He looked over as the stable hand that drove the carriage opened the door, "Hey, Fast-Shootin' Fenton," The boy smiled, "S`time for you and your Nightingale to get going."

Danny smirked at the stable hand's use of their ancestor's names. "Sure hold on a second." The boy nodded and walked away. Danny looked down at Emma and decided against waking her up. He stood up in the carriage and bent down to pick up Emma, and her head fell against his chest with a sigh. Smiling, he carried her out of the carriage carefully, before giving a nod to the stable hand who tipped his hat slightly in reply. Danny carried Emma to her quarters, placing her on the bed lightly.

Taking a step back, Danny watched as Emma snuggled into her pillow and he smiled. Shadows passed over her calm face as a cloud drifted over the moon. He turned his head and looked out the window, walking over and leaning against the frame. He gazed up into the stars, twinkling up above him, thinking soft thoughts to himself. Turning back to look at the sleeping girl, he went and kneeled down beside the bed, taking her hand in both of his, gazing at her for a moment, he closed his eyes. _Someone protect her…_

Danny got up and walked out of Emma's quarters, out of the building, down the dark street. He entered his quarters, laying down on the bed, closing his eyes, the light behind his eyes fading until he opened them again. He sat up and shirked his shirt off, changing out of the slightly more elegant clothes and changing into his other clothes. Glancing over at Dash, snoring comfortably, Danny headed out. Once outside, he began heading towards the stable, when out of the corner of his eye he saw a flash of light. He whipped around but it was gone.

Then he saw the flash again, and turned around, but it wasn't there. Danny felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. The flash appeared again and he turned to where it had been, backing away, and turning to run but the flash cut across his path stopping him short. Then the glowing white flash flew across his vision, and began circling around him, one glowing white wall, blocking his every way out as he looked around frantically. Then suddenly the white walls around him disappeared and a hand covered his mouth and an arm wrapped around his neck, and a boy was standing in front of him, eyes glowing bright white in the darkness.

The boy smirked as Danny struggled against the other boy's hold, trying to shout from behind the boy's hand. Danny looked up at his captive, who smirked down at him, eyes white. Looking back at the boy in front of him, Danny watched the boy held up his hands, turning them intangible, and Danny's eyes widened. The boy grinned and reached into Danny. _I…I can't breathe!_ Danny thought frantically. Suddenly he began thrashing violently; kicking the boy in front of him back into the air. The boy began to float in the air, touching back down to the ground before walking back to where Danny was held, his expression menacing.

Danny watched in fear as the boy pulled back his fist and slammed it into Danny's face. Stars flashed before his eyes, but he recovered, but not in time for the boy to sock him in the gut. "Ugh!" Danny groaned, muffled behind the other boy's hand. Then the other boy threw him up over his head, high into the air, the two boys shooting up after him, nothing but flashes of white. Danny hovered in the air a moment before starting to fall back down. The boy that was restraining him before punched him hard, sending him spiraling to the first boy, who kicked him in the ribs, sending him flying higher into the sky. The boys caught him when he fell, the first grabbing his legs, the second his arms.

They tossed him down towards the blacksmith's shop and Danny just managed to phase through the wall before he could slam into the ancient wood. He bounced along the round, skidding to a stop just before the edge of the burnt-down fire, embers glowing not centimeters from his face. The two boys dropped down from the roof, phasing through in front of him and Danny stood shakily. "No more fooling around." He ran at the boys, he tried to drop kick one but his leg phased right through both of the others. The boy grabbed his arm and tossed him up against the wall.

One picked up the red hot axe head and threw it at him and by reflex, Danny froze it and caught it and tossed it aside while the other boy approached with a red hot poker and Danny backed to the wall and the other guy pinned his arms to the side. The boy holding the poker grinned maliciously and raised the poker, stabbing it viciously through Danny's shoulder, the blood oozing out boiling in the heat and Danny screamed, eyes squeezed hut so tight it hurt. The boy dug the searing metal farther, pinning Danny to the wood. "A message from Lunette." Danny lifted his head and looked at the boy with half-lidded, pain and anger filled eyes, "You can't turn her away, Daniel. Once you've had a taste, you can't go back. Lunette will have you, and Nightingale will die if she tries to stop it."

Danny tried to move, angered and the pain racked his body once again and he screamed as the boy bent the metal bar like a twig, trapping Danny to the wall and Danny looked at him, huffing and breathing shallowly. The second boy's hand flared up with white flames and he touched the poker, the bar becoming white hot instantly and Danny howled in pain, collapsing, the only thing keeping him up, the bar through his shoulder.

Danny mentally reprimanded himself, _I asked for someone to protect Emma… I forgot who will protect me…?_

Danny glared at the boys one last time, "I have a message for Lunette." The boy looked at him, listening and Danny scowled and let out a string of choice curse words. One punched him, twisting his body and cutting his lip on his teeth, making his mouth bleed and the scalding poker tug at his shoulder painfully. The other boy kicked him in the stomach hard and Danny's whole body lurched as he tried to breath, the poker pinning him tightly.

Danny's head was bashed back into the wall and he looked at the two boys, their eyes glowing white as his vision grew dark and he passed out.

The fact he was unconscious didn't stop the ghost-possessed boys from abusing him further, punching and beating his limp body until every surface was wrought with scrapes and bruises. The first boy tugged the poker from Danny's shoulder, blood dripping out of the now-open wound. His body collapsed to the floor and the two boys dragged him out of the blacksmith's shop.

The essence of the boy's souls gone, taken over by Lunette they dragged him through the dirt, trailing Danny's blood behind his lifeless body. Taking him to the horse stable, the y brought out one of the horses and tied him to it, one of his legs with rope wrapped around it, the other loose. The boys hit the horse and it started off as a gallop, heading through the stretch of plains, eyes white and the knowledge in its head to return by morning as it galloped through the darkness, Danny's beaten bloody body trailing along behind, a steady stream of red following after.

* * *

**A/N:** Hey, sorry for taking so long! I had school and it really distracted me! Youll see more of these around now that I have summer vaca!


	9. Civil War

**Disclaimer:** I don't own DP, no matter how much I ask Santa on Christmas, he doesn't bring him to me.

* * *

**Sam:** Are you okay?

**Danny:** *glares*

**Sam:** Sorry, standard question.

* * *

**Civil War**

The sun rose over the little town of Harmony that morning like any other morning, but what it lit was a town painted red. Skid marks of blood tracing through and out of the town. Emma stepped into the street, avoiding another puddle of the red substance on the packed dirt, eyes full of fear.

She looked around and saw a horse galloping through the town and as it got closer she saw behind the horse was-

"DANNY!" Emma ran forward, stopping the horse in its tracks, the creature frightened out of its wits, and she untied Danny and pulled him into her arms as the horse ran to the stables to bury its head in the hay.

Emma tentatively touched Danny's shoulder and watched him visibly wince; she glanced around town, the shining red coloring the streets, but nobody to be seen. It was lucky that she had learned to get up an hour earlier than everybody else. Emma sighed and carefully lifted Danny, wrapping one of his arms around her shoulders and her own hand on his waist. "C'mon Danny, we have to move before somebody sees you!" Danny groaned quietly in response as he was dragged along gently.

Tugging him through the parlor of her building, Emma tugged him up to her room, laying him on her bed gently and lighting up the oil lamp on her bedside. After seeing he was as comfortable as she could make him, she ran to find Sam.

She woke her friend, shaking her shoulders, "Sam, Sam!" Sam blinked awake at Emma's urgency.

"What?" Sam groaned and Emma tugged her out of bed and to the window where they had a great view of the blood-soaked street. Sam gasped, "No!"

Emma barely had to drag Sam as they rushed to Emma's room where Danny laid, eyes half-lidded. "Hey guys, when'd you decide to get here?"

Emma rushed to his side, kneeling on the bed beside him, gently shirking off his shirt to examine his wounds. The hole from the fire-poker was filled with dirt and she quickly got up and went to the wash-basin, filling it with water and dipping the cloth in and bringing the bowl to where Danny sat up weakly, Sam sitting to his side.

She carefully dabbed the hole with the cloth, cleaning out the dirt and grime from the nasty dragging he'd experienced all night. She gently slipped the wet cloth through the hole in his shoulder, pulling it out the other side as he gritted his teeth, the dirt and grime that came out was impressive. Emma gently kissed the side of his head tenderly and placed her hands on both sides of the hole in his shoulder.

A light grew in her cupped hands, a green and black glow, and she pulled her hands away slightly, the light glowing as they watched the black and green ectoplasm fusing together from her hands through his shoulder and she pressed her hands together and he nearly screamed in pain.

Emma looked at him sadly, holding her hands there for a while as he breathed heavily. When she pulled away only a wound that seemed like a scab was left and the blood coated his skin, a bit of green ectoplasm glowing there.

Danny let her quickly clean some of the smaller cuts and put cool wet cloths on the bruises while Sam comforted him. Sam scowled, "This means war! I mean, _look_ at Danny! He had a fire poker jammed through his shoulder!"

Danny lifted a hand, "And I was tied to a horse and dragged around town."

Sam nodded, "That too." Emma sighed sadly and hung her head.

"I'm so sorry Danny, this is all my fault! She wouldn't be after you like this if I wasn't around! I mean-" Danny cut her off.

"Don't say that. All this is Lunette's fault, that or Fast-Shootin' Fenton and Nightingale's at least!" He wrapped an arm around Emma and she leaned back against him.

Emma huffed, blowing a loose hair out of her face, "C'mon now, don't blame them, they're the victims in this. Besides they're dead!"

Danny nodded, "That's true, and if they weren't there then, WE wouldn't be here now!"

"Maybe it would've been for the best if they weren't, then we wouldn't be put through this!" Emma joked.

Danny tightened his hold around her waist and kissed her neck softly, "But then we wouldn't be together and I don't really like that idea."

Emma giggled, "Oh Danny, we would've found a way to be together, you know that."

Sam fake-gagged, "Come on guys, I'm sitting _right here!_" Emma smirked.

"What's the big deal! We're enjoying our time together while were alive." Emma snuggled back into Danny's warm embrace, "Or at least one of us is."

Danny kissed her cheek lightly, "You're as alive as me and Sam, you know that Emma!"

Emma sighed quietly, "I know but not in the literal term."

Sam smiled, "That doesn't matter to us Emma. We're all your friends, dead or alive." Emma grinned at the two and sunk farther into Danny's lap comfortably.

"Thanks guys. I'm glad I've got you, both of you." The other two smiled back at Emma. "Now what are we going to do about the blood?" The teens blinked at her comment.

"Huh?" Sam asked.

Emma gestured to the window, "The town is painted red, red, red! What are we gonna do about that?"

Danny and Sam looked appalled, "Lie?"

Emma rolled her eyes, "That doesn't work all the time! The whole town is bloody and it reaches far out into the desert! What are we going to do?"

* * *

Sam panted in the sunlight and dropped the rake she'd been using to cover up the bloody dirt with more dry dirt. "Can we stop now, we've been at this for an hour!"

Danny looked pained as he raked dirt over his blood, "We're almost done Sam! You and Emma just have to finish those two alleys before everyone wakes up!" He stood back and paced over the new dry dirt that covered the bloody mess.

Emma heard people stirring in the building beside her, "Hurry Sam!" Sam grabbed the rake and the two girls rushed to finish. They slumped against the wall as people started streaming out of the buildings on either side, heading towards the smell of breakfast.

"They don't even notice." Emma smiled and pushed off the wall and headed towards where the food was as Danny trudged off to the Saloon as well, Sam following closely behind.

Emma gently pat his back and he smiled at her, still sore. "Man, I am wiped." Danny said quietly as the found a table. When they sat Dash passed by and shoved Danny's hat down over his eyes and Danny tugged it off and glared at him.

"Hey Fentina, you weren't in bed this morning! Sneak off again to stay with your little girlfriend?" Dash taunted as the other jocks laughed.

Danny gripped the handle of one of his guns, growling and glaring at the large teen and Emma stopped him and wrapped her arms around his waist and nuzzled his neck lightly and looked up at the other boys. "Yes he did, Dash, and we had a good time! Jealous?"

Dash blushed lightly and scowled, "No! Stupid losers, c'mon guys, let's get something to eat." Danny smirked as he watched them leave.

"Thanks Emma, but you know that was a lie." Danny smiled at her as she continued to eat.

"Of course, but they don't know that do they?" She winked at him light-heartedly, "Tomorrow is our last day here before we head home. I'm gonna miss this place, despite what that Lunette is putting us through."

Sam nodded, and pointed at her female friend with her fork, "She's right! I never thought I'd miss a place with this much _sun_." Danny and Emma laughed and Sam continued, "I mean, look at me! I'm almost _tan!"_ Sam laughed along with her friends and they smiled happily, despite the bad things going on around them.

Emma grinned, "I'm _dead_, I didn't know I _could_ tan!" Her friends chuckled and nodded and Danny smiled.

"I'm only half-dead, so I thought it was like an SPF one million!" They all grinned and began comparing their tanned arms and laughing.

"At least we don't have those stupid sunglasses tans, where you can still see the lenses!" Sam pointed out and they all laughed again, obviously thinking about Paulina, who snuck out her sunglasses and was left with embarrassing tan lines.

The three finished eating and went out of the Saloon and Danny slumped against a pole and Emma and Sam sat on the porch steps. Emma leaned against Danny's leg slightly and he smiled down at her as the hot sun bare down on them.

Danny tugged to the front edge of his hat and glanced up at the sky where some vultures were circling, though not of the ghostly variety. _Of course they'd smell my blood; it's probably all over the place._ Danny thought, unamused.

Emma was watching the birds as well, circling slowly in the sky as a couple others joined the ravenous wake, searching for what was presumably dead. "What do you think Lunette will try next?" Emma asked absent-mindedly as she watched the sky.

Danny shrugged, "She's probably realizing we're leaving soon and will pull her ace in the hole, if anything."

"_Cathartes aura._" Sam said suddenly and her two friends looked at her and she rolled her eyes, "Turkey vultures." She said, pointing to the birds which were now landing to roost on buildings nearby.

Danny looked confused, "What does that have to do with Lunette's next plan?"

"It doesn't," Sam said, "I was just wondering where I'd seen those birds before and I remembered that it was a _Cathartes aura_, a Turkey Vulture, because I found a taxidermy one in my attic."

Danny gave Sam a look and Sam put up her hands defensively and Danny rolled his eyes. "U-um, guys."

"What?" Sam and Danny asked in unison and looked over at Emma, who was looking at the wake of twenty vultures and buzzards that were perched on the buildings on either side of them, their beady eyes watching intently.

"Woah…" Danny said quietly.

"Those are _definitely_ not stuffed." Sam muttered and the three teens stood slowly Emma and Danny pulling out their guns as they backed up to the door.

"Y-you don't think..?" Emma asked as Danny tried to open the Saloon door.

"It's stuck!" Danny told them as he pushed on it desperately and ten more vultures flew down and landed on the buildings surrounding them.

"It couldn't be Lunette, could it? I-I mean, there's so _many!_" Sam said nervously as the birds seem to inch closer.

Suddenly all the vultures flew at them, talons at the ready as the birds began to claw at their flesh violently, Emma and Sam screaming as they tried to cover their faces with their arms. Danny and Emma tried to shoot them hurriedly, but their bullets had little effect on the ugly creatures biting and clawing at every piece of bare skin they could reach.

"Help! Help us! Let us in! help!" They screamed and banged on the door frantically and finally someone let them in with the flurry of vultures chasing them, swooping around the large inside of the Saloon making people scream and duck under the tables.

"_Sense and Sensibility_, what's going on!" Lancer screamed and ducked as a vulture nearly took his head off and he scrambled under a table beside Mikey who was shaking like a leaf. Jane tugged Sam away to safety, ducking the huge birds.

Danny and Dash were beating off the black-feathered tormentors with lunch trays as Emma began shooting them again from atop a table, adding ghost energy to the bullets, making them finally affective.

The vultures just kept coming back, more and more flying through the door to the fight. Dash tossed Kwan a food tray and he whacked a vulture into the wall where it sunk to the ground. Emma jumped off the table and tackled Danny, a vulture's claws just missing his head by less than an inch.

The two crashed into the table next to that one with a pained cry. Standing shakily, they went back to pounding the vultures, Emma shooting them with her ghost-powers enhanced gun.

Mr. Viper pulled out a shotgun from the Saloon's bar and shot one of the vultures and it practically exploded in a shower of blood and feathers. **"Get down!"** he bellowed and the four teens battling the birds dropped to the ground and Mr. Viper pumped the gun and shot another and another, bird bodies falling all over.

They heard Paulina scream when one exploded next to her, showering her in blood. Then in a flurry of wings and feathers, the birds swarmed out the exit, leaving almost fifteen bird bodies behind, while taking some for what they could only assume was a noontime snack.

Once the birds were gone, people began crawling out from under their tables, some shaking, others looking disgustedly at the carcasses that now lay across their plates and seats. Emma huffed and helped Danny back up and looking around at their scratched and bitten classmates.

"It was like _The Birds_ except with vultures and not crows and stuff!" Sam yelled, running over to her friends.

Emma rolled her eyes, "Not now Sam." She said, wiping her face of blood specks from the corpse of the buzzard that sat next to them. Sam poked the thing with her foot and Emma pulled her away, "Oh come on Sam, that's gross!"

Danny shuddered and felt the urge to kick the dead bird into the wall annoyedly. Danny tossed the food tray he was using to fight the birds with to the side and Mr. Viper walked up to the teens holding the shotgun at his side. "Does any of you kids know what in sam hill just happened?"

They shook their heads, "We just saw the vultures circling outside and then they landed on the buildings around us," Emma began.

"And then they just attacked us for no reason!" Sam finished, fixing her hair, annoyed. In the background, Paulina threw up and Sam winced at the noise.

Emma sighed and fixed the ribbon in her hair as well, "What will we be doing today, Mister Viper?"

Mr. Viper smiled, "We're going to be teaching all of you how to shoot a target with a gun, obviously, one of these replicas. I'll be giving ya'll different bullets than the blood-tips that way we can be more exact about where you hit on the target!"

This announcement seemed to cheer everyone up a little bit after shuffling through the remains of the birds as the unfortunate employees cleaned up the mess. Jane took Paulina away to give her something for her stomach as the rest of the class was taken to get cleaned up and get ready for the gun lessons.

* * *

Emma smiled as she washed off her face in her personal washbasin in her room, first at the thought of Sam forcing Paulina to wash her face, then because Mr. Viper was going to hold a competition of sorts, to see who would be "the best gunman in the west".

Emma chuckled, oh how she wanted to win! She knew Danny would be gunning for it as well, no pun intended. She grinned, _A little friendly competition never hurt anybody._ She changed out of her dress and slipped into the jeans and shirt, tugging on her boots and setting her cowboy hat on her head. She clipped her gun holsters to her belt and put the guns in and smiled before pausing in the mirror then heading downstairs.

She stepped out into the sun, thankful for the hat on her head before strolling over to where Danny and Sam waited for her. "So it's in agreement, the remake of the movie _Kaw_ earlier is because of Lunette, right?" Sam said quietly as they walked alongside their classmates.

"No doubt," Emma replied, "But we need a plan, that was certainly no ace in the hole if you ask me."

Danny nodded, "I agree. There's more to this movie, those were just the previews."

Emma and Sam nodded and they joined their peers along the fence, facing some targets in the distance. "Alright, now that ya'll `re here, time for ya to choose your weapon!" Mr. Viper shouted over the teens.

Emma and Danny hung back as Mr. Viper tossed them two little bags with the new bullets for them to use as Sam went up to retrieve a weapon. Emma smiled at Danny, "Ready for this, cowboy?" She crossed her arms.

He grinned and nodded, "Primed and ready for anything, ma'am." He said with a tip of his hat and they grinned at one another, "And yer goin' down!" he added.

"Bring it Fast-Shootin' Fenton!" Emma challenged and she turned and ran and he chased her as they ran around laughing. When he caught her he grabbed her around the waist.

"I got you now, Nightingale." He said into her shoulder and he gently turned her head and gave her a kiss.

"It's just like watching the real Fast-Shootin' Fenton and his Nightingale!" Jane said from beside the couple and Danny and Emma jumped a little and broke apart, blushing. Jane laughed, "Sorry didn't mean to startle you."

Danny and Emma mumbled an "it's okay" before he released her and they went to their place along the fence and drew their old revolvers, replacing the old bullets with new ones and firing at the targets, each time, they both hit the bull's-eyes. Mr. Viper went along the line of students, advising them. "**Hey! **No horseplay! Those bullets may not be real, but these modified ones still pack a punch!" He yelled at two boys who were pretending to shoot each other.

Emma glanced at Danny and Danny glanced at Emma and they grinned at each other and crouched lower seeing who could get more rounds in the bull's-eye in a minute. Mr. Viper and Jane watched from the side, impressed with how quickly they were reloading their guns and the accuracy of their mark.

Emma and Danny compared numbers and Danny scowled and Emma did a little victory dance. Then Mr. Viper announced that the competition was going to begin soon, so they decided to save their bullets, they'd need them.

* * *

Emma looked down the street at Mikey, who was quivering and clutching his gun in both hands and she smirked. Emma smiled a bit and tossed her gun back and forth, "Hmm, a head shot is too easy, I should go soft on him." She muttered and Mikey shakily held up the gun and yelped when it went off with a bang and Emma just stepped out of the way easily.

She twirled the gun again and caught it and **BANG! BANG! BANG!** down went Mikey with a scream. Emma smiled and went off the street onto a porch and Mikey was sat on the loser's bench.

Danny stepped up across from Jeremy who grinned and tipped his hat to his friend. Danny gave him a two fingered salute before walking their paces and facing each other. Jeremy let off a couple close shots but Danny was untouchable and he easily took out Jeremy in one shot and Jeremy sighed but shook hands with Danny and went to go sit with Emma on the side and she grinned at him and leaned against him.

"You're going down." She whispered with a smile, not looking at him.

"Like I'm gonna let that happen." Danny muttered, wrapping an arm around her waist.

She smirked. "You'd be too busy staring at me to notice the bullets flying your way," she whispered back, unbuttoning a button on the front of her shirt and he finally turned his eyes to her and blushed at the angle of his sight before hesitantly looking away.

"N-no, I'm not." He stammered in reply quietly and Emma grinned.

"We'll see, Danny, we'll see."

* * *

In the dying light of day the last match was about to begin and Danny and Emma faced off in the darkening street. They smiled at each other and Emma grinned, "You ready for this?"

"As I'll ever be." Danny challenged and they drew their guns and turned and walked the twenty paces away and turned to face their opponent and Danny shot first and Emma dodged and rolled behind some barrels and she jumps up and let off a couple rounds but Danny dodged them and shot back making Emma drop to the dirt.

She huffed and pulled her hair back and tipped off her hat with the barrel of her gun. She could tell he was looking for any sign of movement and she pulled off her hat and tossed it through the air like a Frisbee and her fell for it and shot the hat and she rolled from behind the barrels and let off a couple more shots and he barely dodged them and Emma ran behind the edge of a building as people cheered for the gunslinger they supported.

Emma scrambled up the side of the general store and ran along the roof shooting at Danny, jump over the gaps in buildings as he ran along the ground, dust flying up behind him where the bullets ricochet off the ground.

He stopped and shot at Emma who rolled behind a chimney and huffed. She wished she'd saved her hat as she sun beat down on her. She peered around the chimney and reloaded her revolver.

Danny grinned as Emma leaped off the roof and began to shoot. He whistled and out of the stable at the end of the street, Shadow galloped towards him and he jumped on as the horse passed. Emma tried to duck but was too late and as the horse passed and Danny grabbed her and pulled her on. She then grabbed his wrists and tied them together from the back, something he wasn't expecting and she tossed him off the horse and he fell face-first in the dirt.

Emma leaped off and was about to shoot when Danny flipped over and grabbed her gun with his feet and tossed it aside and he jumped up and struggled to untie the not, the spectators laughing on the porches as he ran around dodging the bullets as he untied himself.

When he broke free he drew his guns and shot back at the modern cowgirl and she dodged it and pulled the top off a barrel, using it like a shield as she ran across the street and ducked behind another building.

Danny waited, watching carefully for any sign of Emma as the girl circled around a couple buildings. He thought he saw her and shot, but she was gone. Then, unexpectedly, shots rang out and Danny barely dodged them as Emma crawled out an upper story window from one of the buildings.

He shot at her and she slid down, the bullets barely missing her and she rolled as she hit the ground to absorb the impact and got so close that she grabbed the barrels of his guns and forced it down and stepped close, grabbing him by the back of his neck and kissing him and he dropped his weapons and wrapped his arms around her waist. Then she slipped her gun up between them without him noticing, pressed it beneath his chin and shot.

The force of the blow was enough to knock him back a foot or two and send him to the dirt. A big red splotch was on his chin and dripping down his neck, a look of distinct bewilderment splayed across his face. Emma twirled her guns and put them in their holsters and grinned. There was a loud roar of cheering and Emma lifted both her arms triumphantly as Danny stood with a grunt and rubbed at the fake blood.

Emma smiled at Danny. "You fought the good fight, Danny." She patted his shoulder and he rubbed his neck.

"That stung!" He said, looking dejected and Emma smiled softly.

"Sorry, I'll make it up to you later. Promise."

"You better." Danny replied teasingly and he heard some people demanding Mr. Viper if what Emma did was legal and he said yes and Emma and Danny laughed.

Behind Lancer's and Mr. Viper's backs money was being exchanged and Emma smiled and leaned on Danny and lifted a fist in the air and shouted, "GIRL POWER!"

Then surprisingly, almost all of the girls there raised their fists and yelled back, **"GIRL POWER!"**

This was enough to startle a good portion of the male population of Casper High and Emma and Danny laughed. Then the students started leaving their perches on the porches and heading to where ever they were going and Sam came over and high-fived Emma, giving Danny a bereft pat on his shoulder.

Jane gave Emma a congratulatory hug and Paulina trailed over with Star beside her, "Way to go Emma!" She said with a smile that immediately turned to a frown, "But don't think this means we're friends, mm'kay?" Emma rolled her eyes as the two it girls walked away.

Jane raised an eyebrow, "Wow, stuck up much?" Sam snorted in amusement at her cousin's remark.

"Yeah, like I'd wanna be friends with that psycho chick." Emma huffed and placed her hands on her hips, flipping her hair. They stood there and smiled and Danny slipped his arms around her waist and she blushed and smiled, "I'm not pleased you shot my hat!"

He laughed, "Well sorry if you tricked me! You're the one who knew I'd be looking for your hat!"

She gently elbowed his gut jokingly, "What was that move with your horse that you pulled! What was with that, it was like you were kidnapping me!" They laughed and Danny slid his arms tighter around her middle.

"And maybe I was, ever think about that?" He laughs and Emma grins.

The girl who beat him scoffed, "Like you could handle all this! And you say that after I kicked your sorry tail to next Tuesday."

"Sorry, kid but she did," Mr. Viper stepped up, trailing Shadow by the horse's reigns. "How _did_ you get this horse to come to you just by whistling!"

Danny grinned and shrugged, "I guess it's just a connection, I guess." Emma nods in agreement.

"Simpler than calling their name, that's for sure. I doubt if I was about to die that I wouldn't have enough breath to yell Desert Rose!" On cue, Emma's horse rested it's chin on her shoulder and Emma smiled and pat the side of the horse's face affectionately.

Mr. Viper sighed, "Jane, get Desert Rose, we need to figure out how these horses are getting out of their stalls!" Jane grabbed Desert Rose's reigns and followed her father back to the stables with the reluctant horses.

Sam crossed her arms as the set. "What happened to Lunette's attack? She has to know we're leaving soon enough!"

Emma looked at the sky, "You don't think that Lunette is saving her energy for something bigger than _the Birds_."

Danny waved it away casually, "Psh, she's not that powerful." He crossed his arms then open one eye uncertainly, "Right?"

Emma looked unhappy, "If she could take over my body and hold a physical form at the _same time_, she's that powerful."

Danny gently grabbed her arm, looking in her eyes, "She overshadowed you! When!"

Emma pulled away from Danny's grasp, "A couple days ago, she nearly made me shoot myself over Nightingale's diary. She still thinks we're Fast-Shootin' Fenton and Nightingale."

"That's because you guys _are._" Sam said simply and Emma and Danny looked at her like she'd lost it, "Really, you are! You've got the horses, the guns, the skill. You have each other Emma sings at the Saloon!" Sam gestured to Emma then huffed and looked at them, "You're practically the same people!"

Danny shook his head, "Sam, we _aren't_ them! We can't be, there's a near-century time difference! Beside's they're both _dead!_"

"Oh, like you aren't?" Sam said, putting her hands on her hips.

Danny waved it away, "That's beside the point; we have two different lives, us and them!"

"It's true. Besides we'd never heard of them, never heard of Lunette either, until we came _here._" Emma agreed.

Sam sighed, "Fine, believe what you want. Maybe it would have been safer for you guy's to go to Vlad's mansion. At least we _know_ his plans." Danny patted his friend's shoulder and the trio started down the empty street towards the Saloon and the scent of dinner.

* * *

A raven tilted its head as it watched the three teens stroll down the road, not a curious sight as it sat on its building's perch. It nearly dropped the precious eyeball in its mouth as it gave a squaw and flew away, careful to keep the eye facing the teens.

It flew to the graveyard and landed on a ghostly arm and gently placed the eyeball in the feminine palm of the girl's hand. She wrapped her fingers around the soft sphere and jerked her arm so the raven would fly away.

Lunette tossed her hair away from her face and used her fingers to widen her empty socket and placing the eyeball in. She swiveled it around to reconnect it and smiled. "Not to worry, my love. We will be together soon." She faded away into the blackness leaving only the old gravestone where she had sat.

* * *

**A/N: **Finally! I told you I'd be writing more now! Hah! This was painful after finally getting over my nasty writers block. Great to start on a fresh slate. Can't wait for next chapter! ~Mimm


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